in opening to depositors, credits, which authorise them to draw up to the amount of the sum deposited, in exchanging mercantile instruments, and in discounting them for cash. The agency of bankers is not deemed gratuitous but for a remuneration, and their responsibility to their customers is regulated by rules of § 1992 of the Civil Code. Bankers must have a license which costs 500 francs (£20). The character of a banker does not depend upon the existence of a "Bourse" in a town, but upon the accumulation of banking business, and not as credits, acceptances, and remittances, accidentally or simply received in furtherance of his own business, but for banking operations. Nor is it sufficient to constitute a banker to speculate in money by drawing or remitting from place to place where the range of his operations is so limited that they do not extend to the principal places of France and to foreign countries. A banker has a right to charge a commission besides the legal interest upon the balance of each account settled at intervals, and a banker who opens a credit to a merchant may, besides legal interest, charge a commission upon his advance. But when the commission has been once charged upon the advance or upon the settlement of the account, bankers cannot charge a commission on the money which they receive or send, or upon the securities which they give instead of money. They can only charge a commission upon those instruments which are sent to them from others, and which impose upon them care, labour, and expense (a).

(a) Nouguier des Lettres de Change, § 22.

K K

CHAPTER XIV.

Definition.

Who may

ssue.

Form.

Sum.

ON BANK NOTES.

BRITISH LAW.

THE term bank notes is defined by statute to mean all bills or notes for the payment of money to the bearer on demand, other than bills or notes of the Governor and Company of the Bank of England; and "Bank of England notes mean promissory notes of the Governor and Company of the Bank of England, payable to bearer on demand (a).

The issue of bank notes is limited by the Bank Act of 1844, to the Bank of England, and to those bankers who were lawfully issuing them on the passing of that Act. It was moreover provided that once a banker becomes bankrupt, or ceases to issue his own notes, he is prohibited from recommencing the issue (b). The Bank of England has the exclusive privilege of issuing bank notes unstamped in the city of London, and within three miles thereof. Bank notes issued by other bankers may be re-issued, provided securities be given to the Commissioners of Stamps for the stamp duties on the same (c). The form of a Bank of England note is as follows::

Bank of England.

I promise to pay Mr. Matthew Marshall or bearer, on demand, the sum of Five pounds.

1863, Jan. 20. London, 20th Jan., 1863.

£ Five.

For the Governor and Company of the
Bank of England.

A. B.

In England bank notes cannot be issued for less than £5, but in Scotland and Ireland they may. Such notes, however, cannot Legal tender. be circulated in England or Wales (d). A Bank of England note

(a) 7 & 8 Vict. c. 32, s. 10.

(b) Ibid. s. 12.

(c) Ibid. s. 16.

(d) 17 Geo. 3, c. 30; 7 Geo. 4, c.

6; 9 Geo. 4, c. 65.

is a legal tender for sums above £5 anywhere in England and Wales, except at the bank or its branches. A bank note pay

able at a specific place must be presented at that place before Presentment. a right of action can arise, and the presentment must be in reasonable time if the holder means to exercise his recourse against the party from whom he received it, and as such instruments are in point of law promissory notes, due diligence ought to be used to obtain payment, and if payment be refused notice should be given of that refusal (a).

When given

Bank notes being transferrable by delivery, the person trans- Transferrable by delivery. ferring is not liable on the instrument, although he is understood to warrant the genuineness of the note, and must bear the loss should it prove to be forged (b). But if a country banker's note be given for an antecedent debt the note is not considered as sold, and in case of non-payment by the banker the transferree may have recourse to his original remedy for the antecedent debt (c).

The criminal law relating to the forgery of bank notes is as follows:

for an antece

dent debt.

Whosoever shall forge or alter, or shall offer, utter, dispose of, Forging or uttering or put off, knowing the same to be forged or altered, any note or forged bank bill of exchange of the Governor and Company of the Bank of notes. England or of the Governor and Company of the Bank of Ireland, or of any other body corporate, company, or person carrying on the business of bankers, commonly called a bank note, a bank bill of exchange, or a bank post bill, or any indorsement on or assignment of any bank note, bank bill of exchange, or bank post bill, with intent to defraud, shall be guilty of felony, and being convicted thereof shall be liable, at the discretion of the court, to be kept in penal servitude for life or for any term not less than three years, or to be imprisoned for any term not exceeding two years, with or without hard labour, and with or without solitary confinement (d).

Whosoever shall, without lawful authority or excuse (the proof whereof shall lie on the party accused), purchase or

(a) Camidge v. Allenby, 6 B. & C. 373.

(b) Fuller v. Smith, Ry. & M. 49; Smith v. Mercer, 6 Taunt. 76; Jones v. Ryde, 1 Marsh. 157.

(c) Camidge v. Allenby, 6 B. & C. 373; Raphael v. Bank of England, 10 Q. B. 713.

(d) 24 & 25 Vict. c. 98, s. 12.

Purchasing or receiving forged bank

notes.

Making and engraving plates, &c., for bank notes.

receive from any other person, or have in his custody or possession, any forged bank note, bank bill of exchange, or bank post bill, or blank bank note, blank bank bill of exchange, or blank bank post bill, knowing the same to be forged, shall be guilty of felony, and being convicted thereof shall be liable, at the discretion of the court, to be kept in penal servitude for any term not exceeding fourteen years and not less than three years, or to be imprisoned for any term not exceeding two years, with or without hard labour (a).

As to making and engraving plates, &c., for bank notes, &c.: Whosoever, without lawful authority or excuse (the proof whereof shall lie on the party accused), shall make or use, or knowingly have in his custody or possession, any frame, mould or instrument for the making of paper with the words "Bank of England" or "Bank of Ireland," or the greater part of such words, visible in the substance of the paper, or for the making of paper with curved or waving bar lines, or with the laying wire lines thereof in a waving or curved shape, or with any number, sum, or amount expressed in a word or words in Roman letters, visible in the substance of the paper, or with any device or distinction peculiar to and appearing in the substance of the paper used by the Governor and Company of the Banks of England and Ireland respectively for any notes, bills of exchange, or bank post bills of such banks respectively, or shall make, use, sell, expose to sale, utter, or dispose of, or knowingly have in his custody or possession, any paper whatsoever, with the words "Bank of England" or "Bank of Ireland," or the greater part of such words, visible in the substance of the paper, or any paper with curved or waving bar lines, or with the laying wire lines thereof in a waving or curved shape, or with any number, sum, or amount expressed in a word or words in Roman letters, appearing visible in the substance of the paper, or with any device or distinction peculiar to and appearing in the substance of the paper used by the Governor and Company of the Banks of England and Ireland respectively for any notes, bills of exchange, or bank post bills of such banks respectively, or shall by any art or contrivance cause the words "Bank of England or "Bank of Ireland," or the greater part of such words, or any

(a) 24 & 25 Vict. c. 98, s. 13.

device or distinction peculiar to and appearing in the substance of the paper used by the Governor and Company of the Banks of England and Ireland respectively for any notes, bills of exchange, or bank post bills of such banks respectively, to appear visible in the substance of any paper, or shall cause the numerical sum or amount of any bank note, bank bill of exchange, or bank post bill, blank bank note, blank bank bill of exchange, or blank bank post bill, in a word or words in Roman letters, to appear visible in the substance of the paper whereon the same shall be written or printed, shall be guilty of felony, and being convicted thereof shall be liable, at the discretion of the court, to be kept in penal servitude for any term not exceeding fourteen years and not less than three years, or to be imprisoned for any term not exceeding two years, with or without hard labour (a).

visions.

Provisions to the same effect are made against engraving, or Other prohaving any plate for making notes of Bank of England or Ireland, or other banks, or having such plate, &c., or uttering or having paper upon which a blank bank note shall be printed (b). Also against engraving on a plate, &c., any word, number, or device resembling part of a bank note or bill, or using or having any such plate, or uttering or having any paper on which any such word is impressed (c). Also against making, or having moulds for making, paper with the name of any banker, or having such paper (d); and against engraving plates for foreign bills or notes, or using or having such plates, or uttering paper on which any part of any such bill or note is printed (e).