ceding causes, the payment shall be deferred during the entire day of presentation, unless notice of objection shall have been given. The holder of a bill who claims payment is compelled, if the drawee or maker exacts it, to prove his identity. Anticipated payments are valid on bills of exchange not yet fallen due, with or without discount, unless the debtor has become bankrupt within the fifteen days which have preceded the payment. No partial payment can take place without the Partial payconsent of the holder. In such case the bill may be protested for the amount not paid, and the holder shall keep it in his hand, noting upon it the sum paid, and "giving a separate receipt. ment. Payment of lost bills. The holder of another copy than the one on which acceptance has been demanded, cannot exact the payment of it unless he guarantee the value by giving security. If the acceptor should demur to it, the bill should be protested for non-payment. The guarantee ceases as soon as the liability on the acceptance lapses through prescription. Bills not accepted can only be paid after their maturity, and not before, on a second, third, or other copy. No payment can be validly made on copies of the Payment on copies of bills. bills delivered by the indorsers, unless the bearer adds to it one of the copies delivered by the drawer. He who has lost a bill of exchange, whether accepted or not, and cannot exhibit any other copy of it, can only demand of the debtor to deposit the amount of it. In case of refusal to pay, the owner of the lost bill preserves his rights by an act of protest, in the same form as a protest in default of payment. If the lost bill had been drawn out of the kingdom, or beyond the seas, and the holder proves his ownership by his books, and the letters of the person from whom he received the bill, or by the certificate of the broker who is concerned in the negotiation, he may demand the amount by giving a sufficient security, to continue in force till the presentation of the copy of the bill given to him by the drawer (a). (a) Spanish Code, §§ 494-510. Foreign bills must be pro tested for nonpayment. Who should protest. Where and when the bill should be protested. Inland bills need not be protested. SECTION XIII. PROTEST FOR NON-PAYMENT. BRITISH LAW. When the drawee neglects or refuses to pay a foreign bill when due, the holder must cause the bill to be duly protested; the protest being a formal declaration of a new presentment for payment by a public notary, who thereupon makes a minute consisting of his initials, the month, and the year, and the reason for non-payment. The protest should be made out by a notary-public, or if there be no notary in or near the place where the bill is payable, by an inhabitant in the presence of two witnesses (a). Every consul at any foreign port or place, has power to do all such notarial acts as any notary-public may do (b). And any person residing at any place distant more than ten miles from the Royal Exchange, in the City of London, who shall have been previously admitted as attorney or solicitor, may be a notary-public (c). The bill must be protested for non-payment at the place where the dishonour occurred (d), and though the noting should be done on the very day of refusal, the protest may be drawn any day after by the notary, dating it the day when the noting was made (e). The protest of any bill or note must be stamped, the following being the duties:-Protest of any bill not amounting to £20,—28. ; amounting to £20, and not amounting to £100,-38.; amounting to £100, and not amounting to £500, -58.; amounting to £500 or upwards,—108. An inland bill need not be protested (ƒ), and in Scotland a protest of inland bill is no longer necessary, except where it is intended to proceed by summary diligence (g). (a) Bailey on Bills, p. 263. (b) 6 Geo. 4, c. 87, s. 20. (c) 3 & 4 Will. 4, c. 70, s. 2. (d) Mitchell v. Baring, 10 B. & C. 4. (e) Geralopulo v. Wieler, 10 C. B. 690; Chaters v. Bell, 4 Esp. 48. (f) 19 & 20 Vict. c. 60, s. 13. FOREIGN LAWS. notaries. France. The drawer, indorsers, and securities, are responsi- Protest. ble for the payment of the bill, because they have not only sold a credit, but they have promised that the same shall be paid by the drawee. But as each of them has promised to pay only in case the drawee should not pay, it is necessary to give proof of such a refusal, and to show the cause of it, whether it be death, absence, or bankruptcy. The special act which furnishes this proof is the protest. The protest may be effectually done by a notary or usher without witnesses. It must contain a literal copy of the bill, and note the presence or absence of the party who was to have paid, and the motive of his refusal, if he gives any. When the officer has presented himself at proper hours he may leave the protest with whomsoever he finds in the house. Should the drawee pay after the protest he would have to pay the expense. The notaries are required to leave Duties of an exact copy of the protest with the parties themselves, and to enter it in a special register kept in due form. The protest for non-payment must be made the day after the bill became due, the whole of that day being granted to the holder to take necessary steps to obtain the payment. If the day following the day of maturity is Sunday or holiday, the protest must be made the day after. The object of the protest is to show that the holder has taken care to have the bill presented for payment the day it became due, and that the same was refused. If it be proved that the holder did not present the bill on the day of maturity, and that the drawee failed the day following, or the day when the protest was made, he would lose all right of recourse. The officer must present himself to the drawee, whether he has accepted the bill or not. If the bill has been accepted payable at another place than the domicile of the Where the protest should drawee, the protest must be made at the place so indicated. be made. When the bill has been accepted by a third party for honour, the protest must be made both at the domicile of the drawee and in that of the third party. Where there are persons indicated to pay the bill in case of need, the protest must be also made at the domicile of such persons. All these steps must be taken in the same day, but the holder is only required to take due diligence. Where the notary charged to protest does not Who must make the protest. find the person in his house, it is sufficient if he makes due note of it in the protest. The protest is necessary even where the bill is drawn upon a bankrupt, and it must be notified to the drawee at the domicile indicated in the bill, when the bill becomes due. It would not be sufficient to address it to the assignees. If there be nobody, or if the party be dead, it must still be made. If the drawer has written on the bill "return without protest," or "without expense," then the protest is not necessary, and it is sufficient if the holder informs. the drawer that the bill was not paid. It is for the tribunal to appreciate the circumstances of the case whether superior force has hindered the holder to protest the bill on the day after it became due, or whether the bill reached him too late for the purpose (a). United States. In default of payment in whole or in part, protest may be forthwith made by a notary at the place of payment, and under the formalities prescribed at that place as in the case of protest for non-acceptance, and it must be made on the last day of grace (b). Germany. The protest must be made by a notary, or by an usher, and they may act even without witnesses. The protest must contain a verbal copy of the bill, and of all the indorsements; the name of the parties for whom and against whom the protest is made; the demand made to the party, and his answer, or a statement that the party could not be seen; the place and date where the demand was made; in case of acceptance or payment for honour, by whom and for whom, and how the acceptance or payment was made; and, lastly, the signature of the notary or usher, with his seal of office. Where the demand must be made upon several parties, one protest only is sufficient. It is the duty of the notaries and ushers to enter the protests which they make in a special register, and in order of date. In Frankfort the protest can only be made between nine and twelve in the morning, and two and five in the afternoon. In Prussia, between nine in the morning and six o'clock in the evening (c). Holland. The refusal of payment must be proved by a pro (a) French Code of Commerce, §§ 162, 163, 173, 174, and 175; Pardessus Droit Commercial, tom. 1, p. 514. (b) Kent's Commentary, vol. 3, p. 122. (c) German Law. §§ 41-43, and 88. made. test to be made the day after the bill has fallen due, and if that day be a holiday the same must be made on the following day. The protest should be made at the residence of the drawee. If Where should the protest be the bill be made payable at another place, or by another person, the protest should be made at the other place, and against such other person. If the drawee is quite unknown, and his residence cannot be discovered, the protest should be made at the post-office of the place where the bill should be paid, and if there be no post-office, at the office of the local authorities. The protest should be made against each person indicated in the bill who refuses payment. The protest should be made by a notary or by the greffier of the district judge, assisted by two witnesses. The notaries are bound to leave an exact copy of the protests, and to enrol them by order of date in a particular register, and if it be required of them, to deliver one or more. copies of the protest to the interested parties. The holder of a Notice of the protested bill is bound to give notice of the protest to his in- protest. dorser within five days if they both reside in the same district. And if they do not reside in the same district the holder is bound to send to his indorser a copy of the protest at the latest on the first post-day after the five days have expired, and if there be no regular post, by the first opportunity after such five days. Every indorser is bound in the same period of time reckoning from the date of the protest, to give notice of it, or to send it to his own indorser (a). made. Spain.-A bill of exchange must be protested for non-accep- When should tance or non-payment. The protest for non-acceptance must be the protest be made on the day following the presentation of the bill. If the day when the protest should be made is not a working day it should be made on the day following. Every protest, whether for non-acceptance or non-payment, should be drawn up by a public or royal notary, and before two witnesses. The protest should be made against the drawee at his residence, if the person can be found there. If he is not there, notice of the protest should be given to his clerks, or in default to his wife, his children, or his servants, taking care to leave a copy of the protest for the person against whom the protest is made. The protest should be made in the place indicated in the bill, or in (a) Dutch Code, §§ 180-184. Where it made. should be |