Computation of time of payment. "without grace." It is due on February 28. A similar note, dated January 1, would be payable on February 1.1 2. A note for 1007. is made payable by two equal instalments, on January 1 and February 1. The instalments fall due on January 4 and February 4.2 3. A bill dated January 1 is payable thirty days after date. It is due on February 3. 4. A non-negotiable note, not payable on demand, is entitled to days of grace.3 5. A bill dated 28 November, a bill dated 29 November, and a bill dated 30 November, each being payable three months after date, all fall due on March 3, inasmuch as February has but 28 days. NOTE. It is believed that all countries, except those where the Greek Church is the prevailing religion, use the New Style, or Gregorian Calendar. The number of days of grace allowed differs in different countries. By French Code, Art. 135, and German Exchange Law, Art. 33, days of grace are abolished. The Indian Draft Code proposed to do the same. The Bank of England pays its own bills without taking grace. "After sight" in a Bill of Exchange means after acceptance or noting or protest for non-acceptance, i.e., sight evidenced on the bill.+ ILLUSTRATIONS. 1. The holder of a foreign bill, payable sixty days after sight, makes an agreement that if it be dishonoured by non-acceptance, he will re-present it for payment at maturity. Acceptance is refused. The time of payment must be calculated from the day the bill was protested, and not from the day of presentment to the drawee for acceptance. 2. A bill is payable three months after sight. The acceptance bears date January 1. The bill is due on April 4. 3. Bill payable after sight is noted for non-acceptance on 1 Cf. Roehner v. Knickerbocker Life Ass. Co. (1875), 63 New York R. 160. 2 Oridge v. Sherborne (1843), 11 M. & W. 381. 3 Smith v. Kendal (1794), 6 T. R. 123. 4 Campbell v. French (1795), 6 T. R. 200, Ex. Ch. ; Cf. French Code, Art. 131; German Exchange Law, Art. 32. 5 Id. The time Computa tion of time of January 1. It is accepted suprà protest on January 5. of payment (probably) must be calculated from January 1.1 NOTE. As a promissory note cannot be accepted, "after sight," payment. in a note, means after mere exhibition to the maker. A bill presented for acceptance is usually left for twenty-four hours with the drawee, but the custom is for the acceptance to bear date the day of presentment, and not the day of return to the holder-e.g., a bill presented on a Saturday during business hours, is accepted and returned on the Monday; the acceptance should bear date of the Saturday. The holder is probably entitled to this as a matter of right. "Usance" means customary time, ie., the time for payment as fixed by custom, having regard to the place where a bill is drawn and the place where it is payable. ILLUSTRATION. The usance between London and Amsterdam is one month; therefore a bill drawn in Amsterdam, dated January 1, payable in London at double usance, falls due on March 4.3 NOTE.-When the usance is a month, half usance means fifteen days: Cf. Pothier, No. 15. The existence of a usance will not be judicially noticed it must be proved. When a bill falls due on Sunday, Christmas Day, Good Friday, or on a day appointed by Royal proclamation as a fast or thanksgiving day, it is deemed to be due on the preceding day.+ When a bill falls due on a Bank Holiday, it is deemed to be due on the succeeding day.5 ILLUSTRATION. A bill is payable three months after date. The last day of grace is the day after Christmas Day, a Bank holiday. It is due on the 1 Such is the practice: see contrà dicta in Williams v. Germaine (1827), 7 B. & C. 468, at 471. 2 Sturdy v. Henderson (1821), 4 B. & Ald. 592; and Cf. Dixon v. Nuttall (1834), 1 C. M. & R. 307, prior to 34 & 35 Vict. c. 74. 3 Cf. Mutford v. Walcot (1700); 1 Ld. Raym. 574. 4 39 & 40 Geo. 3, c. 42; 7 & 8 Geo. 4, c. 15. 534 & 35 Vict. c. 17, § 1 & 2 ; The Bank Holidays Act, 1871. tion of Computa- 27th December; but if the last day of grace was Christmas Day, it would be due on the 24th; and if the 24th was a Sunday, it time of payment. would be due on the 23rd. NOTE.-By French Code, Art. 134, a bill which falls due on a dies non (ferié légal) is payable the day before. Where a bill is drawn in one country and is payable in another the computation of time is determined by the law of the place of payment.1 ILLUSTRATIONS. 1. A bill is drawn in England, payable in Paris three months after date. After it is drawn, but before it is due, a moratory law is passed in France postponing the maturity of all current bills for one month. The maturity of this bill is for all purposes to be determined by French law. 2. By French law, days of grace are not allowed. A bill drawn in France, payable in England, is entitled to three days' grace; but a bill drawn in England, payable in France, is not entitled to grace.3 Place of making. Place of payment. Place of Making and Payment. Art. 21. It is not necessary to state in a bill the place where it is drawn. NOTE-By 9 Geo. 4, c. 65, a penalty is imposed on the issue or negotiation in England of bills or notes of less than 57., payable to bearer on demand, which are made or purport to be made in Scotland or Ireland: and see Art. 279. In France, the place where a bill is drawn must be stated: French Code, Art. 110; Nouguier, $93-105. In Germany the law is the same as in England. Art. 22. The drawer of a Bill of Exchange may or may not indicate a place of payment therein he may also indicate an alternative place of payment.* 1 Rouquette v. Overman (1875), 10 L. R. Q. B. 525. 2 Id. 3 Id. at 535-538. Bayley; Chitty; Story. Cf. Pollard v. Hervies (1803), 3 B. & P. 335. NOTE: By French Code, Art. 110, and German Exchange Law, Place of Art. 4, the place of payment must be stated. As to the effect of payment. the drawer stating or not stating a place of payment, see Art. 167, Presentment for Payment. Explanation. The drawer of a bill may make it payable at the house or place of business of some person other than the drawee.1 ILLUSTRATION. A. may draw a bill on B., in Liverpool, payable at Messrs. X. & Co.'s bankers, London. NOTE. The person at whose house or place of business a bill is drawn or accepted payable is sometimes called the "domiciliary," from the French term "domiciliaire," and the bill is said to be "domiciled" where payable. Inchoate Bills. signatures. Art. 23. (1.) Where a simple signature on a blank Blank stamped paper is delivered by the signer in order that it may be converted into a bill,2 it operates as a prima facie authority to any person into whose hands it may subsequently come to fill it up as a complete bill in any form he pleases and for any sum the stamp will cover,3 using the signature for that of the drawer or the acceptor or an indorser ;4 and in like manner when a bill is wanting in any material particular the person in possession of it has prima facie authority to fill up the omission as he thinks fit.5 1 Cf. French Code, Art. 111. 2 Baxendale v. Bennett (1878), 3 Q. B. D. at 531, C. A. 3 Id.; Hatch v. Searles (1854), 2 Sm. & G. at 152, 153; Swan v. North British Australasian Co. (1863), 2 H. & C. at 184. + Collis v. Emmet (1790), 1 H. Bl. 313, drawer; Molloy v. Delves (1831), 7 Bing. 428, acceptor; Russell v. Langstaffe (1780), 2 Dougl. 514; Foster v. Mackinnon (1869), 4 L. R. C. P. at 712, indorser. 5 Crutchley v. Mann (1814), 5 Taunt. 529, and cases suprà. Blank signatures. (2.) Where any such inchoate instrument is completed, it operates, and the liabilities of the parties accrue from the time when it is issued in a complete form, and not from the time when the signatures were attached. (3.) As between immediate parties, or as regards a remote party who is affected with notice, in order that any such instrument when completed may be enforceable against a person who became a party thereto prior to its completion, it may be filled up within a reasonable time,2 and strictly in accordance with the authority given.3 If the bill, after its completion, gets into the hands of a bona fide holder for value without notice, the prima facie presumption that it was duly filled up becomes absolute.* ILLUSTRATIONS. 1. A. draws a bill payable to or order. Any bonâ fide holder may write his own name in the blank, and sue on the bill.5 2. B. who is indebted to X. gives him a blank acceptance for 1007. X. dies. If X.'s administrator fills up the paper as a bill payable to drawer's order, and inserts his own name as drawer he is entitled to receive and enforce payment against the acceptor. 3. B. gives a blank acceptance to a money-lender who fills it up as a bill payable to drawer's order, inserting a fictitious signature as that of the drawer and indorser. If the bill afterwards gets 1 Montagu v. Perkins (1853), 22 L. J. C. P. 187; Goldsmid v. Hampton (1858), 5 C. B. N. S. 94; Ex parte Hayward (1871), 6 L. R. Ch. 546. 2 Temple v. Pullen (1853), 8 Exch. 389; Montagu v. Perkins (1853), 22 L. J. C. P. 187. 3 Aude v. Dixon (1851), 6 Exch. 869; Hatch v. Searles (1854), 2 Sm. & G. 147 at 152; Hanbury v. Lovett (1868), 18 L. T. N. S. 366. 4 Schultz v. Astley (1836), 2 Bing. N. C. 544; Foster v. Mackinnon (1869), 4 L. R. C. P. at 712; London and S. W. Bank v. Wentworth (1880), 5 C. P. D. 96. 5 Crutchley v. Mann (1814), 5 Taunt. 529; Cf. Art. 9. 6 Scard v. Jackson (1876), 34 L. T. N. S. 65. |