•I II ^^^legass&larzelere ArrORPfEYS-AT-LAW, ' J^orristown. Pa. ' UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES SCHOOL OF LAW LffiRARY J: THE NEGOTIABLE INSTRUMENTS LAW OF PEN NSYLVANI A. From the Dkakt i-kkpakkd kor thk Commissioners on Uniformity OF Laws, and Enacted in Nkw York, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, District of Columbia, Maryland, Vhujinia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Florida, Wisconsin, North Dakota, Colorado, Utah, Oregon and Washington. THE FULL TEXT OF THE LAW AS EXACTED, WITH COPIOUS AXXOTATIOXS. BY JOHN J. CRAWFORD, Of the New York Bar, BY WHOM THE STATUTE WAS DRAWN. NEW YORK : BAKER, VOORHIS AND COMPANY. NEWARK, N. J. SONEY AND SAGE, 1902. T Copyright, 1902, By John J. Crawford. PREFACE. In 1895 the Conference of Commissioners on Uniformity of Laws, which met that year in Detroit, instructed the Com- mittee on Commercial Law to have prepared a codification of the law relating to bills and notes. The matter was re- ferred to a sub-committee consisting of Lyman D. Brewster, of Connecticut, Henry C. Willcox, of New York, and Frank Bergen, of New Jersey; and I was employed l)y the sub- committee to draw the proposed law. When completed, the draft, with my notes, was submitted to the sub-committee, who printed it and sent copies to each member of the confer- ence, and also to many prominent lawyers and law pro- fessors, and to several English judges and lawyers, with an invitation for suggestions and criticisms. The draft was submitted to the conference, which met at Saratoga in Au- gust, 1896; and the commissioners who were in attendance, being twenty-seven in all, and representing fourteen differ- ent States, went over it section by section, and made some amendments therein, most of which were such changes in the existing law as I had not felt at hberty to incorporate into the orifrinal draft. The draft as thus amended was adopted by the conference; and was afterwards approved by the American Bar Association, the American Bank- ers' Association, and by many State bar associations, among them that of Pennsylvania. The law has been en- acted in New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Florida, Wisconsin, North Dakota, Coloradc^, Utah, Oregon, and Washington, and has also been adopted by Congress as the law of the District of Columbia. In most iv PREFACE. instances the law has been passed in the form proposed by the Commissioners on Uniformity of Laws; but in several States a few minor changes have been made. These are in- dicated in the notes. I have also endeavored to point out the changes made by the law in the different States and have added to the notes citations to the decisions in all the States where the statute is now in force. It is somewhat notable that so few cases have arisen under the Act. The reported cases number only about a half dozen in all ; and in most of these the court was required only to apply the act, and not to construe it. Perhaps nothing could better demonstrate that the practical working of the law has been satisfactory. The text as printed in this edition is that of the Pennsyl- vania statute. This is precisely the same as that published by tlie Commissioners on Uniformity of- Laws, except for several slight verbal changes, and a few omissions and inac- curacies caused by errors in engrossing. The section head- ings, however, do not appear in the Pennsylvania statute; they are found only in the New York Act. But as they are fuller and more complete than the marginal notations of the Pennsylvania enactment, they have been retained instead of the latter. John J. Crawford. 30 Broad Street, New York, February i, 1902. THE NEGOTIABLE INSTRUMENTS LAW. THE NEGOTIABLE INSTRUMENTS LAW. Laws of Pennsylvania, 1901, No. 162. Sections i- 23. Form and interpretation of negotiable instruments. 24- 29. Consideration. 30- 50. Negotiation. 51- 59. Rights of holder. 60- 69. Liabilities of parties. 70- 88. Presentment for payment. 89-118. Notice of dishonor. 1 19-125. Discharge of negotiable instruments. 126-13 1. Bills of exchange; form and interpreta- tion. 132-142. x\cceptance. 1 43- 1 5 1 . Presentment for acceptance. 152-160. Protest. 161- 1 70. Acceptance for honor. 1 71-177. Payment for honor. 178-183. Bills in a set. 184-189. Promissory notes and checks. 190-198. General provisions. 8 THE NEGOTIABLE INSTRUMENTS LAW. CHAPTER I. NEGOTIABLE INSTRUMENTS IN GENERAL. ARTICLE I.* Form oEf Interpretation. Section i. Form of negotiable instrument. 2. Certainty as to sum ; what constitutes. 3. When promise is unconditional. 4. Determinable future time; what constitutes. 5. Additional provisions not affecting negotia- bility. 6. Omissions; seal; particular money. 7. When payable on demand. 8. When payable to order. 9. When payable to bearer. 10. Terms when sufficient. 11. Date, presumption as to. 12. Ante-dated and post-dated. 13. When date may be inserted. 14. Blanks, when may be filled. 15. Incomplete instrument not delivered. 16. Delivery; when effectual; when presumed. 17. Construction where instrument is ambiguous. 18. Liability of person signing in trade or assumed name. 19. Signature by agent ; authority ; how shown. 20. Liability of person signing as agent, et cetera. 21. Signature by procuration; effect of. 22. Effect of indorsement by infant or corporation. 23. Forged signature ; effect of . *Thc numbers of the sections of this article in States other than Pennsylvania are as follows: Colorado, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Florida, Mas<=achusetts, North Carolina, North Dakota. Ore- gon, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, and Washington, r-23; New York, 20- 42; Maryland, 20-42; Rhode Island. g-.3i ; Wisconsin. 1675-1 to 1675-23. tError in engrossing for "and." FORM AND INTERPRETATION. 9 § I. Form of negotiable instrument.— Be it enacted, etc. : That an instrument lu be negotialile must conform to the following requirements : 1. It must be in writing ((/) and signed l)y the maker (jr drawer. 2. Must contain an unconditional promise {b) or order to pay a sum certain in money (c) ; 3. Must be payable on demand ((/), or at a fixed or determinable future time (c) ; 4. Must be payable to order (/) or to bearer (g) ; and 5. Where the instrument is addressed to a drawee, he must be named or otherwise indicated therein with reason- able certainty (//). (a) The writino- may be in pencil. Brown v. Butchers' Bank, G Hill, 443. (h) See section 3. (c) This is the rule of the law merchant, and the rule which pre- vails in most of the States. In some States — as, for example, in Iowa and Georgia — certain instruments are declared by statute to be negotiable, though they provide that payment is to be made in goods or merchandise. See also section 6, subdivision 5. In !New York warehouse receipts issued by certain corporations are declared to be negotiable. See Hanover Nat. Bank r. American Dock and Trust Co., 148 N. Y. 612; Corn Exchange Bank v. Same, 149 N. Y. 174. The act does not repeal these statutes. Ul) See section 7. (e) See section 4. (/) See section 8. The North Carolina Act reads : " Must be payable to the order of a specified person or bearer." The words " specified person" are surplusage, since by section 8 this is de- clared to be the effect of the term " order." (g) Yingling v. Kohlhass, IS ^Id. 148; Curtis r. llazen, 56 Conn. 146. If the instrument is payable to a particular person, and not to his order or to bearer, it is not negotiable. Backus i'. Danforth, 10 Conn. 297. As to bonds payable to bearer and coupons, see Carr. V. Leferre, 27 Pa. St. 413; County of Beaver r. Armstrong, 44 Pa. St. 63 ; National Exchange Bank v. Hartford etc. R. R. Co. 8 R. I. 375. As to Treasury notes, see Frazer v. D'Quilliers, 2 Pa. St. 200. See section 9, lO THE NEGOTIABLE INSTRUMENTS LAW.