The the bill, as well as the forbearance, or release of the debt, which Sweden. When a bill of exchange has been protested for nonacceptance or non-payment, the holder may ask payment from the drawer or from the indorsers who are solidarily responsible, but if one of the indorsers has lost his recourse against those who precede him, the holder also loses his right towards them. If the acceptor has become bankrupt before the day the bill fell due, the holder may, after protest, demand payment from the Re-exchange. drawer or from the indorsers. In payment of a returned bill, the holder may demand from the drawer or from the indorsers the amount of the bill, interest at one-half per cent. per month, reckoning from the day of maturity, the reimbursement of the cost of protest, postage of two letters, brokerage of one-eighth per cent. where a broker has been employed; and, if it has been proved that the funds had been provided in several places, all other necessary expenses. If the sum is specified in foreign money, it shall be paid, in case of a rise, at the rate of exchange of the day of payment, and in case of a decline, at the rate of exchange of the day of emission. In case of nonpayment, the holder must summon the drawer and the indorsers within six weeks, if he is domiciled in the same department; and within three months, if he is domiciled in another. The holder who neglects to get the acceptance of the bill or to demand payment and summons the parties as above, loses all recourse on the indorsers and drawer; but if the drawer had not provided funds with the acceptor, he remains responsible. An indorser who pays a bill of exchange enters in the same right as the party to whom he pays it, but only towards the indorsers who precede him. In case of non-payment, he has (a) Spanish Code, §§ 534–547. three months' time to summon him, and if he neglects it he Protest. loses his right of recourse. All protests must be made between the hours of nine o'clock in the morning and six o'clock in the evening, in the towns, by a notary, or magistrate, and a witness; and in the country, by a sworn officer and two witnesses. It is requisite that all of them should know how to write. A verbal-process of the protest shall be drawn out, containing the entire copy of the bill of exchange, the demand of the holder, the answers, his exceptions, the time and place, and the signature of the officer and witnesses. If the drawee cannot be found, the protest shall be made at his house. The holder shall thus preserve his rights, having on his charge to give notice in fifteen days at the latest to the competent authorities. The holder must equally protest, if the drawee is dead or has become bankrupt (a). SECTION XVII. STATUTE OF LIMITATION. BRITISH LAW. tation on All actions of debt grounded upon any lending or contract Time of limiwithout specialty must be brought within six years of the actions on cause of such action and not after. But if any person entitled debt. to the action shall at the time of the cause of action accrued be an infant, or a feme covert, non compos mentis, or beyond the sea, then such person may bring the action within six years after his full age, discoverture, sound memory, enlargement, or return from beyond the seas. But the Statute of Limitation does not destroy the debt; it only bars the remedy (b). The Statute begins to run from the time the cause of action From what time it begins has accrued. Therefore upon a bill payable after date, it on bills of begins to run from the time it became due (c). Upon a bill Upon a bill exchange. payable by instalments with a clause that if the first instalment (a) Swedish Law of 1835, §§ 3039. (b) 21 James 1, c. 16. (c) Quantock v. England, 5 Burr. 2628; Williams v. Jones, 13 East, 450 Chapple v. Durston, 1 C. & J. 1. Acknowledg ment must be in writing to take the case out of the statute. is not paid the whole shall become due, the Statute will run from the first default (a), and upon a bill payable at sight, or at a specific time after sight, the Statute commences from the presentation, or from the day it became payable after the presentation (b). But on a bill payable on demand, the Statute runs from the date of the bill and not from the date of the demand. If a bill was never accepted, and dishonoured at the time of payment, the Statute will run from the day the acceptance was refused (c). In all actions grounded upon any simple contract, no acknowledgment or promise by words only is deemed sufficient evidence of a new and continuing contract, whereby to take any case out of the operation of the Statute of Limitation, or to deprive any party of the benefit thereof, unless such acknowledgment or promise is made or contained by, or in some writing signed by the party chargeable thereby, or by an agent duly authorised (d). The written acknowledgment must contain a clear and unqualified promise to pay the debt. If the promise is conditional it must be shown that the condition has been fulfilled (e). And where there are two or more joint contractors, or executors, or administrators, of any contract, such joint contractor, executor, or administrator, does not lose the benefit of the Statute so as to be chargeable in respect, or by reason only of written acknowledgment or promise made and signed by any Part payment. other or others of them (f). Even part payment by one or more joint contractors, or executors, or administrators, only bars the person making it of the benefit of the Statute (g). But indorsement or memorandum of any payment written or made upon any promissory note, bill of exchange, or other writing, by or on behalf of the party to whom such payment is made, is deemed sufficient proof of such payment so as to take the case Issue of writ. out of the operation of the Statute (g). By issuing a writ of summons within the six years against the parties liable, and In case of two or more joint contractors. (a) Wittersheim v. Lady Carlisle, 1 H. Bl. 631; Hemp v. Garland, 4 Q. B. 519. (b) Holmes v. Kerrison, 2 Taunt. 323; (c) Carter v. Ring, 3 Camp. 459 ; Megginson v. Harper, 2 C. & M. 322. (e) Laing v. Mackenzie, 4 C. & P. 463; Tanner v. Smart, 6 B. & C. 603. (f) 9 Geo. 4, c. 14. (g) 19 & 20 Vict. c. 97, s. 14. 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. |