CHAPTER LOAN SOCIE- But a bill or note payable at a certain time after date to the secretary or other officer for the time being of a company, is void, the payee being uncertain at the time of making (e). The manager, as well as any other bona fide holder, may of course sue in his own name on any bills indorsed in blank belonging to a banking company (ƒ). And where a note was given to the treasurer of a loan society for the time being, under the 5 & 6 Will. 4, c. 28, neither the treasurer when the note was given, nor his successor in office, could maintain an action on the note, for the additional reason that the acts of Parliament, establishing loan societies, contemplated proceedings by complaint before a justice of the peace (g). But now by the 3 & 4 Vict. e. 110, ss. 16 & 17, the treasurer or clerk for the time being may sue on such a note in any county court or court of conscience or request. (e) Storm v. Stirling, 3 E. & B. 832; Yates v. Nash, 29 L. J., C. P. 306; 8 C. B., N. S. 581, S. C. But a promissory note to the trustees of a chapel or their treasurer for the time being was held good, for the trustees were held to be the payees and the treasurer merely an agent. Holmes v. Jaques, Law Rep., 1 Q. B. 376. See the Chapter on IRREGULAR INSTRU MENTS. (f) Law v. Parnell, 30 L. J. 17; 7 C. B., N. S. 282, S. C. (g) Tims v. Williams, 3 Q. B. 413. The justices must order payment forthwith, for they cannot postpone the time for payment of the note. Parker v. Boughey, 31 L. J., Mag. Ca. 272. CHAPTER VI. OF THE FORM OF BILLS OF EXCHANGE AND written. BILLS of exchange and promissory notes are usually, but it on what subis apprehended not necessarily, written on paper. It is stance to be conceived that they might be written on parchment, cloth, leather, or any other convenient substitute for paper, not being a metallic substance (a). They may be written in any language, and in any form of In what lanwords. A bill or note, or any other contract, may be written in pencil, as well as in ink. "There is," says Abbott, C. J., "no authority for saying, that when the law requires a contract to be in writing, that writing must be in ink. There is not any great danger that our decision will induce individuals to adopt the mode of writing by pencil in preference to that in general use. The imperfection of this mode of writing, its liability to obliteration, and the impossibility of proving it when so obliterated, will prevent its being generally adopted" (b). Contracts written and signed (a) See post, as to Metallic Tokens. (b) Geary v. Physic, 5 B. & C. 234; 7 Dow. & R. 653, S. C. guage. Bills or notes in pencil. may be written CHAPTER Signature by a mark. Superscription of the place where made. Date. in pencil are constantly admitted as written contracts at Nisi Prius (c), and testamentary writings in pencil often in the Ecclesiastical Courts (d). The signature or indorsement of negotiable instruments may be by a mark (e). It is proper, though not necessary, to superscribe the name of the place where the bill or note is made. But a cheque on a banker must, unless stamped as a bill, express the place where drawn, and such place must be within fifteen miles of the banker's place of business (ƒ). The 9 Geo. 4, c. 65, prohibits the circulation of all negotiable notes or bills under 51., or on which less than 57. shall remain undischarged, payable to bearer on demand, and which were made, or purport to be made, in Scotland, or Ireland, or elsewhere, out of England, under the penalty of 201., to be recovered in a summary way (g). Neither is a date in general essential to the validity of a bill or note; and if there be no date, it will be considered as dated at the time it was made (h). And if in pleading it be stated to have been drawn on a particular day, but the declaration does not state the date appearing on the bill, that is sufficient on a motion in arrest of judgment or on demurrer (i). The date expressed in the instrument is, (except when it is tendered by assignees of a bankrupt, as evidence of a petitioning creditor's debt (j),) prima facie evidence of the time when the instrument was made (k). (d) Rhymes v. Clarkson, 1 Phil. 22; Green v. Skipworth, 1 Phil. 53; Dickenson v. Dickenson, 2 Phil. 173. (e) George v. Surrey, 1 M. & M. 516. (f) 55 Geo. 3, c. 184, s. 13; 9 Geo. 4, c. 49, s. 15. See the Chapter on CHECKS, and the recent statutes there referred to. (g) This does not extend to drafts on bankers, see sect. 4. (h) De la Courtier v. Bellamy, 2 Show. 422; Hague v. French, 3 B. & P. 173; Giles v. Bourn, 6 M. & Sel. 73; 2 Chit. R. 300, S. C. Parol evidence is admissible to show from what time an undated (j) Wright v. Lainson, 2 M. & W. 739; 6 Dowl. 146, S. C.; see post. (k) Anderson v. Weston, 6 Bing. N. C. 296; 8 Scott, 893, S. C.; Taylor v. Kinloch, 1 Stark. 175; Obbard v. Betham, 1 M. & M. 486; Smith v. Battens, 1 M. & Rob. 341; but see Corie v. Harris, 1 M. & M. 141; 4 M. & P. 722, S. C.; Rose v. Rowcroft, 4 Camp. 245. And this rule applies to written documents in general. Sinclair v. Baggaley, 4 M. & W. Formerly promissory notes, payable to bearer on demand, must not have had printed dates under the penalty of 501. (1). But the statute prohibiting them is now repealed (m). In general, a bill or note may be post dated (n). But under the old acts if this was done so as to postpone the time of payment beyond the period of two months after the making, or so as to make it in effect payable at a longer interval than sixty days after sight, and thus evade the higher scale of duty for bills at long dates, a penalty of 1007. was incurred (o), and the instrument was inadmissible in evidence (p). But an unstamped bill or note issued by bankers under the provisions of 9 Geo. 4, c. 23, must not be post dated, under the penalty of 1007. (q). All negotiable bills, notes, or drafts, for 20s. or any sum between 20s. and 57., must bear date before or at the time of issuing, under the penalty of 20l. (r). The usual allegation that a bill or note was made on a particular day is not matter of description, and the day need not be proved as laid (s). It would be otherwise if the declaration went on to describe the instrument as bearing date on a particular day. Misdescription of the date of a bill in an agreement is immaterial if the bill were in existence and present. For "presentia corporis tollit errorem nominis” (t). CHAPTER the sum payable. The sum for which a bill is made is usually superscribed Superscription of in figures; in a note or check, the figures are commonly subscribed. The superscription or subscription of the sum payable is 312; Davies v. Lowndes, 7 Scott's New Rep. 213; Potez v. Glossop, 2 Exch. 195; Harrison v Clifton, 17 L. J., Exch. 233; and the cases cited in the note to Potez v. Glos80p. All the Irish Judges, in Butler v. Mountgarret, considered the point as finally settled; but in the same case, 7 H. L. Cases, 647, Lord Wensleydale expressed a doubt whether the cases above referred to had been rightly decided. The weight of authority, however, is in favour of the rule as laid down in the text, and it would be difficult to conduct investigations at Nisi Prius, without such a presumption. (1) 55 Geo. 3, c. 184, s. 18. (m) 23 & 24 Vict. c. 111, s. 19. (n) Pasmore v. North, 13 East, 517. See Austin v. Bunyard, 27 L. J. 217; Forster v. Mackworth, L. R., 2 Exch. 163; 36 L. J. 94, S. C. (0) 55 Geo. 3, c. 184, s. 12. (p) Field v. Wood, 6 Dowl. P. (q) Sect. 12. (r) 17 Geo. 3, c. 30, revived by 7 Geo. 4, c. 6; repealed as to checks, 17 & 18 Vict. c. 83, 8. 9. (8) Coxon v. Lyon, 2 Camp. 307, n.; Smith v. Lord, 14 L. J., Q. B. 112; 2 D. & L. 759, S. C. (t) Way v. Hearne, 32 L. J. 34. CHAPTER VI. Time of payment. Usance. not necessary, if the sum be stated in the body of the note, but it will aid an omission in the body: as, where the word fifty was written in the body of the note, without the word pounds (u). The time of payment is regularly and usually stated in the beginning of the note or bill; but, if no time be expressed, the instrument will be payable on demand (v). Negotiable bills or notes under 57. must formerly have been made payable within the space of twenty-one days from the date (x). But now there is no limitation as to the time when the bill or note is to be made payable. The bill or note may be made payable on demand, or at sight, or at any certain period after date, or after sight, or at usance. "If a bill of exchange be made payable at never so distant a day, if it be a day that must come, it is no objection to the bill" (y). The expression after sight, on a bill of exchange, means after acceptance, or protest for non-acceptance, and not after a mere private exhibition to the drawee, for the sight must appear in a legal way (z). But if a note is made at or after sight, the expression merely imports that payment is not to be demanded till it has been again exhibited to the maker (a) ; for a note being incapable of acceptance, the word "sight' must, on a note, bear a different meaning from the same word on a bill. Foreign bills are commonly drawn at one, two, or more usances, or, as it is sometimes expressed, at single, double, treble, or half usance. Usance signifies the usage of the countries between which bills are drawn with respect to the time of payment. If a foreign bill be drawn, payable at sight, or at a certain period after sight, the acceptor will be (u) Elliot's case, 2 East, P. C. (v) Whitlock v. Underwood, 3 But on a motion to set aside an (x) 17 Geo. 3, c. 30, now re- (y) Willes, C. J., in Colehan v. Cooke, Willes, 396. (z) Marius, 19, cited by Lord Kenyon in Campbell v. French, 6 T. R. 212. So in America it has been held that after sight means after acceptance, and not after mere presentment. Byles on Bills, 5th American edition, p. 170. (a) Holmes v. Kerrison, 2 Taunt. 323; Sturdy v. Henderson, 4 B. & Al. 592; Sutton v. Toomer, 7 B. & C. 416; 1 M. & Ry. 125, S. C.; Dixon v. Nuttall, 1 C., M. & R. 307; 6 C. & P. 320, S. C. |