By the Negotiable Instruments Act a for eign bill, if dishonored by non-acceptance, or, after acceptance, by non-payment, must be protested ; if not, the drawer and endors ers are discharged. The protest must be an nexed to the bill, or must contain a copy thereof, under the hand and seal of the notary making it, and must specify the time and place of presentment, the fact and man ner thereof, the cause or reason for protest ing the bill, and the demand made and the answer given, if any, or the fact that the drawee or acceptor could not be found. Pro test may be made by a notary ; or it may be by any respectable resident of the place of dishonor, in the presence of two or more credible witnesses.
Protest must be made on the day of dis honor, but is dispensed with by any circum stances which would dispense with notice of dishonor. See PRESENTMENT. It must be at the place of dishonor, except that when a bill drawn at the place of business or resi dence of some person other than the drawee, has been dishonored by non-acceptance, it must be protested for non-payment at the place where it is expressed to be payable, and no further presentment for payment to, or demand on, the drawee is necessary. Aft er protest for non-acceptance a bill may be protested for non-payment.
Where the acceptor has been adjudged bankrupt or insolvent, or has assigned for creditors, before the bill matures, it may be protested for better security against the drawer and indorsers.
If a bill is lost or destroyed, or wrongly detained from the person entitled to hold it, protest may be on a copy or written particu lars thereof.
Where a defendant negligently caused an original note to be protested after he had re ceived a renewal note, the maker of the note can recover in tort for the damage to his credit; State Mutual Life Ass'n v. Baldwin, 116 Ga. 855, 43 S. E. 262.
See ACCEPTANCE; BILLS OF EXCHANGE; No TICE OF DISHONOR; PRESENTMENT.
In Legislation. A declaration made by one or more members of a legislative body that they do not agree with some act or resolu tion of the body: it is usual to add the rea sons which the protestants have for such a dissent.
See 2 Redlich, Proc. in H. of C. 233, as to protest in the House of Lords.
In Maritime Law. A writing, attested by a justice of the peace, a notary public, or a consul, made and verified by the master of a vessel, stating the severity of a voyage by which a ship has suffered, and showing that it was not owing to the neglect or miscon duct of the master. See Richette v. Stewart, 1 Dall. 317, 1 L. Ed. 154 v. Ins. Co., 3 W. & S. (Pa.) 144, 38 Am. Dec. 747. It cannot be made by a notary except under the lex mercatoria, or by statute ; Patterson v. Ins. Co., 3 Harr. & J. (Md.) 71, 5 Am. Dec. 419.
The protest is not, in general, evidence for the master of the vessel or his owners in the English or American courts ; yet it is often proper evidence against them; Abb. Sh., 13th ed. 457.