Protest on Non Acceptance. If the Drawee or cannot be found. sending it to a notary's office) he has done whatever may be customary or proper on his part, and when that has been once done, it is then in the province of the drawee to leave word with his clerks, or the persons in his employ, what answer is to be given on the subject of the nonacceptance, when the bill is again presented. If there be no such person as the drawee, or have absconded if he have absconded, or cannot be found", and have no place of business, or dwelling house, some inquiries should be made after him, and especially at the Post-office; and if a general directory be published at the place, then it is considered by some as a prudent course also to have inquiries made at the publishers, (sometimes, though rarely, it is also presented to any indifferent person on the public exchange,) and after such inquiries have been made, the bill is to be considered as dishonoured. The old practice of taking it to the public exchange, no doubt derived its origin in ancient times, when bill transactions were conducted through the intervention of money changers, or bankers, frequenting the bourse or exchange; but at present such a ceremony is not generally adopted, and it is not now considered necessary, and the custom of taking the bill there is nearly (1) If the Drawee or Maker cannot be found, it is sufficient to aver generally in the declaration that he was not found, Bayley on Bills, 4th edition, 324, and Starke v. Chesman, Carthew, 509, there cited. obsolete"). In any of the special cases, such as Protest when the drawee is dead, has absconded, or cannot be found, it is usual to state the circum stance in the protest, in order to show why he could not be met with, so as to have the bill presented to him. on NonAcceptance. sence and neglect to leave If, on presentment, it should turn out that the Drawee's abdrawee is not met with at his place of business, and has not thought fit to leave any orders with orders after his clerks, or to instruct them what answer is to having had the Bill left for given, (of course still taking it for granted that deliberation. the holder left the bill in the first instance, for acceptance,) it is not necessary to send again, but it will suffice to state in the protest, that presentment for acceptance was made to a clerk, at the banking house, counting house, or other place of business of the drawee, and that the clerk answered, that the drawee was not within, and that he had not left any orders to accept the bill. ther Present In case of difficulty in meeting with the drawee, Difficulty in distance of his residence, lateness of the hour, making anoor any other extraordinary case, it does not appear ment, or in absolutely necessary, for either the presentment making a Pro (1) Mitchell and another v. Baring and others, 10 Barn. and Cress. 4. The Author was in Court on the trial of that cause, and can speak to a slight error in the report, which states that it was proved, that the custom of taking the bill to the Exchange had become obsolete; but, in fact, the respectable individual who gave evidence respecting it, said that it was occasionally done, but that he did not attach importance to it, and that it was almost obsolete. test of the Bill on the same day on which the Holder re or protest of a foreign bill, to be made in the course of the very day on which the holder received it back ceives it back dishonoured on non-acceptance; dishonoured. and in practice it occasionally occurs in such Noting. special cases, that neither the presentment is made, nor is the protest completed, until the day following. After the presentment, the next step is to note the bill; this is a note or minute made upon the face of the bill; it has been called an incipient protest, and it consists of the marking upon it the initials of the notary's name, the date of dishonour, &c.; and it has been held that if a foreign bill be noted at the time, a protest may be drawn up at any time afterwards, provided that in the event of a suit, it be drawn up before the commencement of such suit3). In practice, the presentment and noting are occasionally done on one day, and the protest prepared on some subsequent one, and dated as of the true date when the bill was dishonoured or refused acceptance; and it is not uncommon amongst merchants to cause the bill to be noted in the (1) Bayley on Bills, 4th edition, in notis, p. 217. (2) Per Lord Kenyon, in Chaters v. Bell and another, 4 Esp. N. P. Cases, 48, in which opinion Lord Ellenborough afterwards concurred; and cited in 1 Sel. Ni. Pri. 360, 9th edition; and in Goodman v. Harvey, 4 Adol. and Ellis, 874. (3) Bayley on Bills, 4th edition, 218; and Chaters ". Bell, 4 Espinasse, N. P. Cases, 48, there cited. on Non first instance, but to suspend the preparing a pro- Protest test for a time, in order to allow an opportunity Acceptance. for the expected arrival of advices, remittances, or consignments coming from the drawer abroad, to the drawee; a course of proceeding which the mercantile classes consider convenient and regular; but the holder must take care not to let slip an opportunity of sending off the protest, and notice of dishonour, by the first usual conveyance, if he intend to avoid committing himself, and to preserve his remedy against the drawer or indorsers. In like manner a duplicate or a triplicate Duplicate or protest may, by the custom of merchants, be Triplicate drawn up at the time or afterwards, and it is considered equally as efficacious as an original. Protest. contents of the The protest is an instrument in writing, signed Nature and by the notary, and passed under his official seal; Protest for in fact, it may perhaps be a question whether the Non-acceptlatter, like the seals to many other public and ance. official documents, is not the most essential, or the only essential part of the ceremony; it is in general (though, as we have before seen, not always) made on the same day on which the bill is dishonoured on non-acceptance. The protest of a bill by a notary in England does not require any witness, though formerly witnesses to pro tests were not uncommon. It must state correctly the date of the dishonour, and a bill cannot be legally noted or protested as of a previous date, (indeed, the noting or protesting it as of a previous date, would be a nullity, L Protest Protest Book. and any notary inserting a false date of the dishonour, would be liable to be struck off the rolls;) and it also concisely gives an account of the refusal to accept, or other circumstances incident to the non-acceptance; and it generally states at whose request (naming the principal or agent) the bill is protested; that, however, does not appear to be necessary; indeed, in many cases, the persons desiring bills to be protested, (as in the instance of commission merchants receiving bills from a distant place,) are mere agents, and do not always know who the real holders are; and in case of doubt, it is often stated in the protest, to be done at the request of "the holders." The bill should be copied on the back of the protest, or a copy of the bill should be prefixed to it; there is no particular form of protest which it is incumbent to use; that generally adopted is antiquated, and seems very susceptible of improvement. If the drawee, in consequence of the arrival of funds, or other circumstances, should, after the noting or protest of the bill, determine to honour it, he reimburses to the holder, the expence of the noting or protest. A notarial register, usually called a Protest Book, of the noting and protesting of bills and notes, with copies of them, is always kept in a notary's office, which furnishes the means of preparing duplicate or triplicate protests, if they should be wanted at any time afterwards; and as it is usual for the person who presents each |