CHAPTER When to be made. be presented for acceptance before it can be presented for payment. In no other case is presentment for acceptance necessary in order to charge any party to the bill (c). Subject to the other provisions of the Code, when a bill payable after sight is negotiated, the holder must either present it for acceptance, or negotiate it, within a reasonable time; if he do not do so, the drawer and all indorsers prior to that holder are discharged; what time is reasonable depends upon the nature of the bill, the usage of trade with respect to similar bills, and the facts of the particular case (d). Plaintiff on Friday the 9th at Windsor, twenty miles from London, received a bill on London, at one month after sight, for 1001. There was no post on Saturday. It was presented on the Tuesday. The jury thought it was presented within a reasonable time, and the Court concurred (e). A bill drawn by bankers in the country on their correspondents in London, payable after sight, was indorsed to the traveller of the plaintiffs. He transmitted it to the plaintiffs after the interval of a week, and they, two days afterwards, transmitted it for acceptance. Before it was presented to the drawees, the drawer had become bankrupt; the drawees, consequently, refused to accept. Had the bill been sent by the traveller to the plaintiffs, his employers, as soon as he received it, they would have been able to get it accepted before the bankruptcy. "This is," says Lord Tenterden, "a mixed question of law and fact; and, in expressing my own opinion, I do not wish at all to withdraw the case from the jury. Whatever strictness may be required with respect to common bills of exchange payable after sight, it does not seem unreasonable to treat bills of this nature, drawn by bankers on their correspondents, as not requiring immediate presentment, but as being retainable by the holders for the purpose of using them, within a (c) Code, s. 39 (3). When the holder of a bill drawn payable elsewhere than at the residence or place of business of the drawee, has not time with reasonable di!igence to present for acceptance before the day it falls due, the delay caused by presenting for acceptance before presenting for payment is excused, and the drawers and indorsers ars not discharged. Code, s. 39 (4). (d) Code, s. 40. The other V. provisions seems to be those re- (e) Fry v. Hill, 7 Taunt. 395; 18 R. R. 512. XIII. moderate time (for indefinite delay, of course, cannot be CHAPTER allowed), as part of the circulating medium of the country." The jury concurred with his Lordship, that the delay was not unreasonable (f). Where the purchaser of a bill on Rio Janeiro, at sixty days' sight, the exchange being against him, kept it nearly five months, and the drawee failed before presentment, it was held that the delay was not unreasonable. The bill," says Tindal, C.J., "must be forwarded within a reasonable time under all the circumstances of the case, and there must be no unreasonable or improper delay. Whether there has been, in any particular case, reasonable diligence used, or whether unreasonable delay has occurred, is a mixed question of law and fact, to be decided by the jury, acting under the direction of the Judge, upon the particular circumstances of each case (1). But where a bill, payable after sight, was drawn in duplicate on the 12th of August, in Newfoundland, and not presented for acceptance in London till November 16, and no circumstances were proved to excuse the delay, it was held unreasonable (h), the Court laying some stress on the fact that the bill was drawn in sets. Presentment must be made by or on behalf of the holder What is due to the drawee, or his duly authorized agent (i), at a reason- presentment. able hour (k), on a business day (7), before the bill is overdue. (f) Shute v. Robins, 1 M. & M. 133; 3 C. & P. 80. (g) Mellish v. Rawdon, 9 Bing. 416; 2 M. & Sc. 570; 35 R. R. 579. (h) Straker v. Graham, 4 M. & W. 721. (i) Where the holder's servant called at the drawee's residence and showed the bill to some person in the drawee's tanyard, who refused to accept it, but the witness did not know the drawee by sight, nor could he swear that the person to whom he offered the bill was the drawee or represented himself to be so, Lord Ellenborough held, "The evidence here offered proves no demand on the drawee, and is therefore insufficient." Check v. Roper, 5 Esp. 175. (k) Code, s. 41. The usual banking hours are ten till four. Government cheques are not pay able at the Bank of England after 3.0 p.m. 4 & 5 Will. 4, c. 15, s. 21. Business hours are rather (Non-business days are- CHAPTER When excused. Excused by circulation. Where a bill is addressed to two or more drawees, who are not partners, presentment must be made to them all, unless one has authority to accept for all; presentment, then, may be made to him only. Where the drawee is dead, presentment may be made to his personal representative; but the holder is not bound to do so, as this is one of the circumstances excusing presentment. He may treat the bill as dishonoured by non-acceptance; and so too if the drawee be bankrupt, presentment may be made either to him or his trustee, or the holder may treat it as dishonoured. When authorized by agreement or usage, presentment through the Post-office is sufficient (m). Presentment is excused, and a bill may be treated as dishonoured by non-acceptance, when the drawee is dead or bankrupt, or is a fictitious person, or a person incapable of contracting by a bill. Where, after the exercise of reasonable diligence, such presentment cannot be effected. Where, although the presentment have been irregular, acceptance has been refused on some other ground. It is no excuse for not presenting, that the holder has reason to believe that the bill will be dishonoured (n). As we have already seen, when the bill is payable after sight, the holder, instead of presenting it, may circulate it within a reasonable time. "If a bill drawn at three days' sight," says Mr. Justice Buller, "be kept out in circulation for a year, I cannot say that there would be laches; but if, instead of putting it into circulation, the holder were to lock it up for any length of time, I should say that he would be guilty of laches" (0). "But this cannot mean," says Tindal, C.J., "that keeping it in hand for any time, however short, would make him guilty of laches. It can Sunday, then Monday), Good (m) Code, s. 41 (1), c and d, and (n) Code, s. 41 (1) e. The holder must present, even although he know that the drawer has desired the drawee not to accept. Hill v. Heap, D. & R., N. P. C. 57; 25 R. R. 791. When the drawee has absconded, the bill may be treated at once as dishonoured. Anon., 1 Ld. Raymond, 743. But if he have merely changed his address, or if the bill be not directed to him at any particular place, the holder must use reasonable diligence to find him out. Collins v. Butler, 2 Stra. 1087; Bateman v. Joseph, 12 East, 433; 11 R. R. 443: Smith v. Bank of New South Wales, L. R., 4 Pr. C. 194: 41 L. J. 26. (0) Muilman v. D'Eguino, 2 H. Bl. 565; ante, p. 212. XIII. never be required of him instantly on receipt of it, under CHAPTER all disadvantages, to put it into circulation. To hold the purchaser bound by such an obligation would impede, if not altogether destroy, the market for buying and selling foreign bills, to the great injury, no less than to the inconvenience, of the drawer himself" (p). Two bills, one for 4007, the other for 500l., were drawn from Lisbon, on May 12, at thirty days after sight, indorsed to G. at Paris, and by G. to R. at Genoa, and by R. indorsed over. They were not presented for acceptance till 22nd August. The jury found, and the Court concurred, that the bills were, under the circumstances, presented within a reasonable time (9). may be given to drawce. When the bill is presented, it is reasonable that the What time for drawee should be allowed some time to deliberate whether deliberation he will accept or no. It seems that he may demand twentyfour hours for this purpose (and that the holder will be justified in leaving the bill with him for that period); at least, if the post do not go out in the interim (r), or unless, in the interim, he either accepts or declares his resolution not to accept (s). If more than twenty-four hours be given, the holder ought to inform the antecedent parties of it (t). If the owner of a bill who leaves it for acceptance, by Consequence his negligence enable a stranger to give such a description of negligence in party preof it as to obtain it from the drawee, without negligence on senting. the drawee's part, the owner cannot maintain trover for it against the drawee (u). When a bill is duly presented for acceptance, and is not Dishonour by accepted within the customary time, the person presenting non-acceptit must treat it as dishonoured by non-acceptance. If he (p) Mellish v. Rawdon, 9 Bing. 416; 2 M. & Sc. 570; 35 R. R. 579. (1) Goupy v. Harden, 7 Taunt. 160; 2 Marsh, 454; 17 R. R. 478. In America it is held, that though put into circulation it must still be presented within a reasonable time. Byles on Bills, 6th American edition, p. 283. () Marius, 15; Com. Dig. Merch. F. 6; Bellasis v. Hester, 1 Ld. Raym. 281. See the observations of Lord Cairns, Van Dieman's Bank v. Victoria Bank, ance. CHAPTER Qualified acceptance. do not, the holder shall lose his right of recourse against the drawer and indorsers (a). A bill is dishonoured by non-acceptance when it is duly presented for acceptance, and an absolute or general acceptance is refused or cannot be obtained; or when presentment for acceptance being excused, the bill is not accepted. Subject to the other provisions of the Code, when a bill is dishonoured by non-acceptance, an immediate right of recourse against the drawer and indorsers accrues to the holder, and no presentment for payment is necessary (y). The holder has a right to expect an absolute or general acceptance, and may treat the bill as dishonoured if he do not obtain one. Still he may, if he please, take a qualified acceptance. Where a qualified acceptance is taken, and the drawer or an indorser has not expressly or impliedly authorized the holder to take such, or subsequently assented thereto, such drawer or indorser is discharged from liability on the bill (z). When the drawer or indorser of a bill receives notice of a qualified acceptance, and does not within a reasonable time express his dissent to the holder, he shall be deemed to have assented thereto (a). (a) Code, s. 42 (1). He must give due notice of dishonour(s.48), and if the bill be a foreign bill, have it protested (s. 51.) (y) Code, s. 43. The other provisions seem to be-s. 15, as to a referee in case of need, resort to whom is optional on the holder's part; ss. 65-68, as to acceptance supra protest or for honour; and ss. 48 and 51 as to notice of dishonour and protest. () See the judgment of Bay. ley, J., in Sebag v. Abitbol, 4 M. & S. 466; Code, s. 44. Where the holder has given due notice of an acceptance as to part, the drawer and indorsers are not discharged, sub-s. (2). A foreign bill accepted as to part must be protested for the balance. (a) Ibid. sub-s. (3). As to qualified acceptances, see Code, S. 19, and post, Chapter on Acceptance. |