count for the accommodation of their customers, and the Bank of England deals extensively in that department. The bills so cashed are transmitted to the provincial banks to be presented at maturity for payment. Conversely, in the provincial towns the country bankers discount bills on London, and transmit them to their correspondents there for payment. The rate of discount varies according to the demand for money, and the character of the particular bills; but it is seldom, upon regular transactions, more than four, or less than two and a half per cent.

Bills of exchange are also much used as follows:-A tradesman may not be able to pay ready money, but he can give the seller an order for payment on some other person, receiving or paying the difference, as the case may be, and making an allowance by way of interest, or, which is the same thing in other words, paying an extra price, in proportion to the time of the bill's currency. To the seller this mode of dealing is better than the giving of a naked credit, as he gets an additional chance of payment, and a written acknowledgment of his debt. When the negotiability of inland bills was admitted, they served all the purposes of actual money, because in the same manner as the original seller had taken the order in payment, another would receive it from him in the purchase of other commodities; or it might be at once discounted or converted into cash by application to a money-dealer.

The drawing of a bill supposes that the drawee either has in his possession funds of the drawer, or is his debtor to the amount specified in the order: it was therefore an easy step in the transactions of wholesale dealing for the seller to draw upon the buyer, for the price of the goods, a bill payable to his (the seller's) own order at some future day. This bill the buyer immediately accepted, and thus in effect acknowledged himself to be the debtor of the drawer to the amount specified, and engaged to pay the holder at maturity. By this arrangement, now very general, the buyer obtains credit for the term at the expiration of which the bill is made payable, and the seller has the advantage of a fixed day for payment

being named in the bill, and a means of procuring cash if he chooses to negotiate the bill.

Bills of Exchange are also frequently drawn and accepted under such circumstances as follow:-There are in most of the principal trading ports of the world, merchants who carry on the business of general factors or agents for sale, and whose establishments are known among mercantile men under the name of commission-houses. The course of dealing with such houses is, for the most part, this:-A., a manufacturer at Manchester, consigns a cargo of cotton pieces to B. and Co., a commission-house at Mexico, for sale on his account. The English correspondents of B. and Co. are Messrs. C. and Co. of London. By an arrangement among these several parties A. draws on C. and Co. for half or twothirds, as may be agreed, of the invoice price of the goods consigned, and by discounting the bill with his banker obtains at once an instalment in money, which immediately returns into his capital, and becomes useful in producing more goods. Ultimately, account sales are furnished by the Mexican house, and A. again draws on C. and Co. for the balance in his favour. Annual balances are struck between B. and Co. and C. and Co., and remittances by bills for the adjustment of the account complete the transaction. Now the advantages of this anticipatory part-payment are obvious, more espe cially in the trade with distant countries, as South America or the East Indies. But the practice has degenerated into something of an abuse; for it has of late been frequent with the consigners of goods to make out invoices with prices artificially high, and so to procure a remunerating return even from the proportion for which they are authorized to draw in advance. The effect is to throw upon the consignees the whole risk, which was formerly shared between the two, and proportionately to impair the steadiness and security of commerce.

Good bills, as already observed, may be always discounted. Accordingly, any man whose credit is good may at any time raise money upon a bill drawn, accepted, or indorsed by himself. If his

exchange, as well in its original formation as in its successive transfers, is an assignment of a debt, by which the right of the original creditor to sue for and obtain payment is transferred to the holder for the time being. The Roman law presented no obstacles to such a substitution; and in those countries therefore which had adopted the civil law, the negotiation of bills found no impediment. But it was a principle of the common law of England, that the assignment of things not in possession, such as a debt of right, being in truth the assignment of suits at law, might be converted into a means of oppression, and the validity of such transfers was not recognised by it. But in the case of bills of exchange the principle of law yielded to general convenience; and the negotiability of foreign bills was recognised by the English law. It was not, however, until three centuries later, that the negotiability of inland bills was recognised by the courts, unless on proof of some special custom of trade; but expediency finally prevailed, and at the present day, as well by the common law as by the statutes of 9 & 10 Wm. III. c. 17, and 3 & 4 Anne, c. 9, they stand on the same general footing as foreign bills.

credit be doubtful he may still procure | cash by the same expedient, but he will have to pay a premium or rate of discount proportioned to the increased risk. Among needy men instances are not unfrequent of discounts procured by these means at the exorbitant rate of 20 or 30 per cent. But a still more common practice is the negotiation of what are called by the significant name of accommodation bills. A trader unable to meet his liabilities applies to a friend whose credit is better than his own, to accept, or in some other way to become a party to, a bill drawn for the purpose: the trader undertakes to provide the funds necessary for paying it when due, and generally gives in return his own acceptance of another like bill, known in the mercantile world as a cross acceptance. When one or more names have thus been obtained sufficient to give currency to the bill, it is discounted, and the money applied to the necessities of the trader. As this bill falls due, the same operation is repeated in order to raise money, until the system of expedients failing at last, as sooner or later it inevitably must, the ruin of the insolvent trader himself is accomplished, and not unfrequently draws along with it others who, unfortunately or imprudently, may have become parties to these unsubstantial representatives of value. Of the more serious mischiefs of this dangerous practice, such as the temptation to forgery by the use of fictitious names as drawers or payees, it is perhaps useless to speak, because few men at first seriously contemplate the commission of a crime, but are rather drawn into it by circumstances not foreseen or not appreciated; but the reflection that it is a foolish and improvident practice-that, in addition to the loss of credit, which, once perceived (and how can it fail to be perceived ?), it is sure to occasion, there is the certain expense of stamps and higher rates of discount, and moreover a double liability in respect of every shilling for which cross acceptances are given-may perhaps have some effect in deterring honest men, however necessitous, from having recourse to this fatal expedient.

Viewed as a legal instrument, a bill of

It is this assignability, vesting in the holder a right of action against the original parties, which chiefly distinguishes a bill of exchange from every other form of legal contract. Another and scarcely less important privilege is, that though a simple contract debt, and as such requiring a consideration to give it legal efficacy, the consideration is presumed until the want of it be shown. It is available therefore in the hands of a bond fide holder, upon merely formal proof of title by the signature of the party to be charged: that is to say, it is unnecessary to prove value given, unless it be first shown on the other side that the bill is in some stage or other tainted with an illegality, and the bona fides is assumed until it shall be made to appear that the holder was, at the time of taking it, privy to that illegality. From this rule an exception is made as to bills given for a gambling debt, which by statute are void even in the hands of an innocent holder. The rules of law applicable to bills of

exchange have been settled by numerous decisions, and it is of great importance to mercantile men to be acquainted with them; but the consideration of them properly belongs to a legal treatise.

EXCHANGE BROKER. [BROKER.] EXCHEQUER BILLS. [ÑATIONAL DEBT.]

EXCHEQUER CHAMBER. [ExCHEQUER, COURT OF; COURTS.]

EXCHEQUER COURT is a superior court of record established by William the Conqueror as part of the Aula Regis, and reduced to its present order by Edward I.

It is the lowest in rank of the four great courts of law which sit at Westminster Hall, although in ancient times one of the first in importance, as all causes relating to the rights of the crown were there heard and determined, and the revenues of the crown were supposed to be received there.

The Latinized form of the word Exchequer is Scaccarium. Camden says it was so called from the covering of the table at which the barons sat being partycoloured or chequered, and on which, when certain of the king's accounts were made up, the sums were marked and scored with counters.

The judges of the court of exchequer are the chancellor of the exchequer for the time being [CHANCELLOR, p. 482], the chief baron, and four other barons, who are created by letters patent, and are so called from their having been formerly chosen from such as were barons of the kingdom, or parliamentary barons (Selden's Titles of Honour).

The Court of Exchequer was formerly held in the king's palace. Its treasury was the great deposit of records from the other courts; writs of summons to assemble the parliaments were issued by its officers; and its acts and decrees, as they related almost entirely to matters connected with the king's revenue, were not controlled by any other of the king's ordinary courts of justice.

It now consists of two divisions, one of which exercises jurisdiction in all cases relating to the customs and excise, and over revenue matters generally. The other division is a court of common law,

in which all personal actions may be brought: the exchequer court of equity was abolished by 5 Vict. c. 5.

A plaintiff, when bringing an action in this court, previously to the Act for Uniformity of Process in personal actions (2 Wm. IV. c. 39), fictitiously alleged himself to be the king's debtor, in order to give the court jurisdiction in the cause; but since the passing of that act it is no longer necessary to resort to this fiction in order to bring an action in the Court of Exchequer, as that statute assimilates the practice of all the common law courts, and the operation as well as the name of the processes issued from them are the same.

1

The number of officers on the plea side of the Court of Exchequer, and their several duties were regulated by 2 & 3 Wm. IV. c. 110. By 3 & 4 Wm. IV. c. 99, the following officers in the Court of Exchequer were abolished: -the lord treasurer's remembrancer, the filacer, secondaries, deputy remembrancer, and sworn and other clerks and bag-bearer belonging thereto; clerk of the pipe, deputy-clerk of the pipe, controller and deputy-controller of the pipe, secondaries, attornies, or sworn and other clerks and bag-bearer in the said office of the pipe; clerk of the estreats; surveyor of the green wax; the foreign apposer, and deputy foreign apposer, and clerk of the nichills. By 5 & 6 Vict. c. 86, certain officers on the revenue side of the court were abolished, and the office of remembrancer of the court was regulated.

An appeal lies from this court by writ of error to the justices of the courts of king's bench and common pleas sitting in the exchequer chamber, who alone have power to review the judgments of the barons and from their decision a further appeal may be brought before the House' of Lords.

The Court of Exchequer chamber was first erected in England by stat. 31 Edward III., to determine causes upon writs of error from the common law side of the Court of Exchequer. The judges of the three superior courts occasionally sit here to hear arguments in important criminal cases, and upon causes of great weight and difficulty, in which the judges of the

ment.

As a court of error, the Court of Exchequer chamber underwent considerable alterations by the passing of the 11th Geo. IV. and 1st. Wm. IV. c. 70, and its constitution is now regulated by that statute. [COURTS.]

The Court of Exchequer in Scotland was established by the 6th Anne, c. 26. This court was abolished in 1832 by 2 & 3 Wm. IV. c. 54. The judges were the high treasurer of Great Britain, with a chief baron, and four other barons.

The Court of Exchequer in Ireland was established by the 40th Geo. III. c. 39, and consists of the chief justices, chief baron, and the rest of the justices and barons, or any nine of them.

EXCISE DUTIES, the name given to taxes or duties levied upon articles of consumption which are produced within the kingdom. This description, which has usually been given of excise duties, is more strictly applicable now than it was formerly, when the commissioners of excise revenue were also charged with the collection of duties upon various articles imported from foreign countries. Among these foreign articles were wine, spirits, tobacco, glass, and tea. The last named of these was the last that was withdrawn from the management of the Excise and transferred to the Board of Customs. There are still, it is true, certain duties to which the name of excise is applied which can hardly be called duties upon consumption, such as the sums charged for licenses to permit persons to carry on certain trades, the post-horse duties, and the duty on sales by auction abolished in 1845. Excise duties are said to have had their origin in this country in the reign of Charles I., when a tax was laid upon beer, cider, and perry, of home production. The act by which these duties were authorised was passed by the long parliament in 1643. This act contains also a list of foreign articles, and among others tobacco, wine, raisins, currants and loaf sugar, upon which excise duties were imposed in addition to duties of customs already chargeable. This act was adopted and enforced under the protectorate of Oliver Cromwell; and by

For a long time this class of duties was viewed with particular dislike by the people, on account of its inquisitorial interference with various industrial pursuits; and it certainly forms a very strong ground of objection against excise duties, that the security of the revenue is held to be incompatible with the perfect freedom of the manufacturer as to the processes which he may apply in his works. In every highly-taxed country where consumption duties form part of the public revenue, it would seem however to be hardly possible to avoid the adoption of this class of duties. In France there is, for example, a customs duty upon foreign-made sugar; and it is clearly necessary for the protection of the revenue that an excise duty should be imposed upon sugar produced at home from beet-root, otherwise the producer of indigenous sugar would charge the consumer nearly as much as he would pay to the importer of foreign sugar, and would for a time pocket the amount of the duty. By such means a branch of industry would be fostered, unprofitable to the country at large, and profitable only to the few persons by whom the indigenous sugar is produced, but whose profits would not long continue greater than the usual profits upon the employment of stock obtainable in the same country from other branches of industry. In this country sugar manufactured from beet-root or potatoes is subjected to an excise duty. For the same reason it would be unfair to permit malt to be imported without imposing on it a duty corresponding in amount to the excise duty. There are consequently "countervailing duties" on the importation of articles subject to excise duty; and a drawback is allowed on the exportation of domestic articles which are subject to excise duty.

Excise duties are liable to this among other very serious objections, that the regulations under which they are collected interfere with processes of manufacture, so as to prevent the adoption of improvements. Upon the same premises, with the same capital, and the

Paper.
Soap.
Spirits, British.
Vinegar.
Salt,
Wire,
Beer,

The

Another great objection that may be urged against excise duties is, the facilities which they offer for the commission of frauds against the revenue. In the Seventeenth Report of the Commissioners appointed to inquire into the management and collection of the excise revenue, it is stated as a striking proof of the extent to which frauds are committed by manufacturers of soap, that "there are in England fifty that take out licenses, for which they pay 41. per annum, each of which makes, or rather brings to charge, less than one ton of soap per annum, from which it is obvious that as the profits of such a sale would not pay for the licence, the entry is made in order to cover smuggling." With regard to malt, another article of great consumption which is subject to excise duties, the commissioners state it to be their opinion, founded upon the evidence given by several respectable maltsters, "that malt is sold throughout the season, and in large quantities, for a price that is insufficient to pay the expense of making it and duty; and that the duty is evaded to a great amount."

In 1797 the number of articles subject to excise duties was 28; 15 in 1833; 10 in 1835; and now, June, 1845, there are only 9, including sugar. The Post-horse duty is under the management of the Board of Excise, and in Ireland the duty on game certificates. In the following list of the articles which paid Excise duties in 1797, the first eight are still subject to these duties, and with sugar made here constitute all the articles on which the Excise duty is now collected: Bricks. Hops. Licences.

Cyder and Perry,
Hides and Skins,
Printed Goods,
Candles,
Tiles,
Starch,
Stone Bottles,
Sweets and Mead,
Auctions,
Glass,
Tea,
Coaches,
Cocoa and Coffee,
Pepper,
Spirits, Foreign,
Tobacco and Snuff,
Wine,

do. do.

In 1822 the Excise duties yielded for the United Kingdom twice as much as the Customs duties. The receipts from Customs were 14,384,7101. and from the Excise 31,190,9481. In 1797 the Excise duties collected in England amounted to 41,069,6687., and in 1821 they reached to 27,400,300l., which is the highest sum they ever attained. In 1845 they are again reduced to the amount at which they stood in 1797. In 1829 the large sum of 6,013,1591. was paid at the chief office for the London "collection,” and in 1835, only 1,462,919l.: the boundary of the "collection," it may be as well to state, does not comprise the whole of the metropolis. In 1825 several articles were transferred to the Customs, and in the same year the salt duty was repealed. This example was followed in the case of many other articles, so that between 1825 and 1834 the duties transferred to the Customs amounted to 11,238,300l. and the duties altogether repealed to 6,782,000l., making a total of 18,020,300l., Two articles alone on which the duty was taken off produced upwards of 5,000,000l. annually, namely, beer 3,100,000l. and printed cottons 2,104,000l.

In 1835 the number of traders in the