PREFACE TO THIRD EDITION.

Since the second edition of this book was published in 1902, the Negotiable Instruments Law has been enacted in the following States, viz.: Alabama, Arizona, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Ohio, West Virginia and Wyoming. In all but one of these, the language of the Act is the same as that in the New York statute, except in a few minor and unimportant particulars. The Illinois statute, however, contains some provisions materially different. These consist mainly of proposed amendments submitted to the Commissioners on Uniformity of Laws at their annual meeting in 1900, but which the Commissioners, by a unanimous vote, after a full report from a committee appointed to consider the subject, rejected as undesirable. In the six years that have elapsed since the publication of the second edition, the statute has been applied or construed in more than two hundred cases. All of these are cited in the present edition. The numbers of the sections vary in the different States, and for convenience of reference a table of corresponding sections has been added.

JOHN J. CRAWFORD. 30 BROAD STREET, NEW YORK, June 10, 1908.

PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION.

When the first edition of this book was published, the Negotiable Instruments Law had been passed in four States, viz.: New York, Connecticut, Florida and Colorado. In the four years which have elapsed since then it has been enacted in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Wisconsin, North Dakota, Utah, Oregon and Washington, and has also been adopted by Congress as the law of the District of Columbia. In most instances the law has been passed in the form proposed by the Commissioners on Uniformity of Laws; but in several States a few minor changes have been made. These are indicated in the notes to this edition. I have also endeavored to point out the changes made by the law in the different States, and have added to the notes citations to the decisions in all the States where the statute is now in force. It is somewhat notable that so few cases have arisen under the Act. The reported cases number only about a half dozen in all; and in most of these the court was required only to apply the act, and not to construe it. Perhaps nothing could better demonstrate that the practical working of the law has been satisfactory. As in the previous edition, the text is that of the New York Act. For the information of the profession outside of New York it may be stated that the hiatus in the section numbers does not indicate the omission of any sections, but is in accordance with the plan adopted in all the "General Laws" of this State.

JOHN J. CRAWFORD. 30 BROAD STREET, NEW YORK, February 1, 1902.