renewing the same every six months, the effect of the Statute is obviated (a). FOREIGN LAWS. France.-Prescription is a means whereby a debtor may Prescription. avoid fulfilling his obligation on the ground that a certain time has elapsed from the day when such engagement could be exacted, but the debtor may after the debt is due do some act in order to keep in force the rights of the creditor. It would be invalid to renounce the prescription so as render the right of action perpetual and imprescriptible, but one may stipulate that the prescription fixed by law shall be of shorter duration. The time of prescription varies very much according to different kinds of debts. Where there are several joint debtors, whatever bars the right against one bars it against the others also. The prescription may be interrupted by an acknowledgment given by the debtor properly certified. The acknowledgment operates as a renewal of the debt, which is prescribed after the lapse of thirty years. Part payment interrupts the prescription, and even a statement of debt sent by the debtor would be sufficient. In bills of exchange the rights of the holder against the drawee, drawer, and indorser, cease after the lapse of five years, which commence the day after the bill became due if no act has been taken by the holder to obtain payment. If any proceeding has been taken, the time will commence from the day of the last act of demand or proceedings, without prejudice to any other circumstance which might interrupt or suspend the prescription. Should the holder obtain a judgment against any of the parties to the bill, he will then preserve his right of action for thirty years against the party upon whom judgment was issued (b). United States of America.-The time fixed for the prescription of suits differs in different States. All personal actions upon any lending or contract without specialty, must be brought within three years after the cause of action or suit in North Carolina and Tennessee; within five years in Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, and Virginia; within six years in (a) 15 & 16 Vict. c. 76, s. 11. Pardessus, Droit Commercial, Vol. ii. (b) French Code of Commerce, § 189; pp. 299, 304, 506. Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhodes Island, and South Carolina (a). Germany. The liability of the acceptor prescribes in three years from the time the bill became due. The right of recourse of the holder against the drawer and indorsers prescribes in three months, if the bill was payable in Europe, except in Iceland and the Faroe Islands; in six months if it be payable in Asia or Africa, in the countries of the Mediterranean or the Black Sea, or in the islands of these seas; in eighteen months if it be payable in a country out of Europe, or in Iceland or the Faroe Islands. The prescription begins to run from the date of the protest. The rights of the indorser against the drawer and indorsers prescribe at the same time as above. The prescription is interrupted if an action be instituted, but only as respects those against whom the suit is directed (b). Denmark. All actions relating to bills of exchange are prescribed in four years, reckoned from the date of the protest (c). Holland.-Debts proceeding from bills of exchange are prescribed at the end of ten years, reckoning from the day of their falling due. Actions against the indorsers and the drawer of a bill of exchange protested for non-payment, if the latter can prove that he had made provision for it, are prescribed as follows:-In fifteen months for bills of exchange drawn in the kingdom payable in the shipping ports of the Levant or the northern coast of Africa; in eighteen months for places on the northern coast of Africa, up to and including the Cape of Good Hope, on the continent of North and South America, except as follows, and the islands of the West Indies; in two years for places on the coast of North and South America situated on the Pacific Ocean beyond Cape Horn and the islands on that ocean, as well as on the continent of Asia and the East Indies. Such times are doubled in time of maritime war. The prescription commences against the holder of the bill from the day of its falling due, and against each indorser from the day he was summoned to pay, or if there had been no action, from the day he voluntarily paid (d). (a) Bouvier's Law Dictionary. (b) German Law, §§ 77-80. (c) Ordinance of 1825, § 73. Italy. All actions relating to bills of exchange and promissory notes signed by traders, merchants, or bankers, for commercial purposes, are prescribed after five years from the date of the protest; or where there has been neither protest or any judicial act, from the day the bill became due (a). Portugal. The obligation by bills of exchange ceases by the prescription of five years as regards the indorsers and drawer who has provided funds in the hands of the drawee. But only thirty years after as regards a civil action against the drawer who has not provided such funds. Those who avail themselves of the prescription of five years must affirm on oath that they are not debtors; widows, heirs, successors, or assignees, must affirm that they bond fide believe that they owe nothing (b). Russia. Prescription in bills of exchange commences in two years from the date of the protest (c). Spain. Every action upon a bill of exchange is extinct four years after it has become due, whether the bill has been protested or not, provided before the expiration of this time no action has been instituted (d). (a) Sardinian Code, § 204; Two Sicilies Code, § 195. (b) Portuguese Code, § 423. (c) Russian Code, § 388. (d) Spanish Code, § 557. |