THE

NEGOTIABLE INSTRUMENTS LAW

FROM THE DRAFT PREPARED FOR THE COMMISSIONERS ON UNIFORMITY
OF LAWS, AND ENACTED IN ALABAMA, ALASKA, ARIZONA, ARKANSAS
COLORADO, CONNECTICUT, DELAWARE, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
FLORIDA, HAWAII, IDAHO, ILLINOIS, INDIANA, IOWA, KANSAS,
KENTUCKY, LOUISIANA, MARYLAND, MASSACHUSETTS,
MICHIGAN, MINNESOTA, MISSOURI, MONTANA, NE-
BRASKA, NEW HAMPSHIRE, NEVADA, NEW JER-
SEY, NEW MEXICO, NEW YORK, NORTH
CAROLINA, NORTH DAKOTA, OHIO, OKLA-

HOMA, OREGON, PENNSYLVANIA,

RHODE ISLAND, SOUTH CAROLINA, SOUTH DAKOTA,
TENNESSEE, UTAH, VERMONT, VIRGINIA.
WASHINGTON, WEST VIRGINIA,

WISCONSIN AND WYOMING.

THE FULL TEXT OF THE LAW AS ENACTED,
WITH COPIOUS ANNOTATIONS.

BY

JOHN J. CRAWFORD,

OF THE NEW YORK BAR,

BY WHOM THE STATUTE WAS DRAWN.

FOURTH EDITION.

NEW YORK:

BAKER, VOORHIS AND COMPANY,

COPYRIGHT, 1897,

BY JOHN J. CRAWFORD.

COPYRIGHT, 1902,

BY JOHN J. CRAWFORD.

COPYRIGHT, 1908,

BY JOHN J. CRAWFORD.

COPYRIGHT, 1916,

BY JOHN J. CRAWFORD.

PREFACE TO FOURTH EDITION.

Since the third edition of this book was published in 1908 the Negotiable Instruments Law has been enacted in Alaska, Arkansas, Delaware, Indiana, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota and Vermont, so that it is now in force. throughout the United States, except in California, Georgia, Maine, Mississippi and Texas. Within the same time there have been a great many decisions under the Act, some of which are of great importance. These are cited in the notes appended to the various sections. The draftsman's original notes, as they appeared in the draft submitted to the commissioners on Uniform Laws, and which were intended to indicate the authority for the different provisions of the statute, have been retained, and appear, for the most part, under the headings "Rule at Common Law" or "Source of the Section." The English cases construing the Bills of Exchange Act are not cited, for the reason that, so far as they are important, the language which the English courts were called upon to construe, differs materially from that in the Negotiable Instruments Law, and any attempt to conform to those decisions would tend to defeat, rather than to insure, a uniform construction of the American statute. That this would be the effect will appear more clearly from the following statement taken from an address delivered by the late Lyman D. Brewster, who was for a number of years President of the Conference of Commissioners on Uniform Laws, and who was also a member of the sub-committee under whose direction the statute was prepared: "The framers of the English

307212