(1) "Any bill of exchange or promissory note issued by any banker, other than the Governor and Company of the Bank of England, for the payment of money not exceeding one hundred pounds to the bearer on demand " (2) "Any bill of exchange or promissory note so issued which entitles, or is intended to entitle, the bearer or holder thereof, without indorsement, or without any further or other indorsement than may be thereon at the time of the issuing thereof, to the payment of money not exceeding one hundred pounds on demand, whether the same be so expressed or not, and in whatever form, and by whomsoever such bill or note is drawn or made' S. 46.-"A bank note issued duly stamped or issued unstamped by a banker duly licensed, or otherwise authorised to issue unstamped bank notes, may be from time to time re-issued without being liable to any stamp duty by reason of such re-issuing " S. 47, 1.—“ If any banker not being duly licensed or otherwise authorised to issue unstamped bank notes, issues, or causes or permits to be issued, any bank note not being duly stamped, he shall forfeit the sum of £50" 2. "If any person receives, or takes any such bank note in payment or as a security, knowing the same to have been issued unstamped contrary to law, he shall forfeit the sum of £20" S. 48, 1." The term Bill of Exchange' for the purposes of this Act includes also draft, order, cheque, and letter of credit, and any document or writing (except a bank note) entitling or purporting to entitle any person, whether named therein or not, to payment by any other person of, or to draw upon any other person for, any sum of money therein mentioned ” 2.-" An order for the payment of any sum of money by a bill of exchange or promissory note, or for the delivery of any bill of exchange or promissory note, in satisfaction of any sum of money, or for the payment of any sum of money, out of any particular fund which may or may not be available, or upon any condition or conditions which may or may not be performed or happen, is to be deemed for the purposes of this Act a bill of exchange for the payment of money on demand " 3." An order for the payment of any sum of money weekly, monthly, or at any other stated periods; and also any order for the payment by any person at any time after the date thereof of any sum of money, and sent or delivered by the person making the same by the person to whom the payment is to be made, and not to the person to whom the payment is to be made, or to any person on his behalf, is to be deemed for the purposes of this Act a bill of exchange for the payment of money on demand" S. 49, 1.-"The term 'Promissory Notes' means and includes any document or writing (except a bank note) containing a promise to pay any sum of money 2.-" A note promising the payment of any sum of money out of any particular fund which may or may not be available, or upon any condition or contingency which may or may not be performed or happen, is to be deemed for the purposes of this Act a promissory note for the said sum of money" S. 51, 1.-"The ad valorem duties upon bills of exchange and promissory notes drawn or made out of the United Kingdom are to be denoted by adhesive stamps" 2. "Every person into whose hands any such bill or note comes in the United Kingdom before it is stamped shall, before he presents for payment, or indorses, transfers, or in any manner negotiates, or pays such bill or note, affix thereto a proper adhesive stamp, or proper adhesive stamps of sufficient amount and cancel every stamp so affixed thereto " 3. Provided as follows (a) "If at the time when any such bill or note comes into the hands of any bonâ fide holder thereof there is affixed thereto an adhesive stamp effectually obliterated, and purporting and appearing to be duly cancelled, such stamp shall, so far as relates to such holder, be deemed to be duly cancelled, although it may not appear to have been so affixed or cancelled by the proper person (b) "If at the time when any such bill or note comes into the hands of any bonâ fide holder thereof there is affixed thereto an adhesive stamp not duly cancelled, it shall be competent for such holder to cancel such stamp as if he were the person by whom it was affixed, and upon his doing so such bill or note shall be deemed duly stamped, and as valid and available as if the stamp had been duly cancelled by the person by whom it was affixed" 4. "But neither of the foregoing provisoes is to relieve any person from any penalty incurred by him for not cancelling any adhesive stamp" S. 52.-"A bill of exchange or promissory note purporting to be drawn or made out of the United Kingdom is, for the purposes of this Act, to be deemed to have been so drawn or made, although it may in fact have been drawn or made within the United Kingdom" Duties payable on Bills and Notes Bill of Exchange payable on demand ... ... £ 8. d. 0 0 1 ... ... 0 1 ... 0 2 0 0 3 0 1 0 For every £100, and also for any fractional part of £100 of such amount or value S. 55.—“ When a bill of exchange is drawn in a set according to the custom of merchants, and one of the set is duly stamped, the other or others of the set shall, unless issued or in some manner negotiated apart from such duly stamped bill, be exempt from duty and upon proof of the loss or destruction of a duly stamped bill, forming one of a set, any other bill of the set which has not been issued or in any manner negotiated apart from such lost or destroyed bill, may, although unstamped, be admitted in evidence to prove the contents of such lost or destroyed bill" : Capacity and Authority of Parties 122.* 1. Capacity to incur liability as a party to a bill is co-extensive with capacity to contract Provided that nothing in this section shall enable a corporation to make itself liable as drawer, acceptor, or indorser of a bill unless it is competent to it so to do under the law for the time being in force relating to corporations 2. Where a bill is drawn or indorsed by an infant, minor, or corporation having no capacity or power to incur liability on a bill, the drawing or indorsement entitles the holder to receive payment of the bill, and to enforce it against any other party thereto 123. No person is liable as drawer, indorser, or acceptor of a bill who has not signed it as such: Provided that 1. Where a person signs a bill in a trade or assumed name, he is liable thereon as if he had signed it in his own name: 2. The signature of the name of a firm is equivalent to the signature by the person so signing of the names of all persons liable as partners in that firm On the Form of Bills and Notes 124.* 1. An inland bill is a bill which is or on the face of it purports to be (a) both drawn and payable within the British Ilands, or (b) drawn within the British Ilands upon some person resident therein. Any other bill is a foreign bill For the purposes of this Act "British Ilands means any part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the ilands of Man, Guernsey, Jersey, Alderney, and Sark, and the ilands adjacent to any of them being part of the dominions of Her Majesty 2. Unless the contrary appear on the face of the bill the holder may treat it as an inland bill 125. No particular form of words is necessary for a Bill or Note 2. It may be written in any language and on any material; and in pencil (a) as well as in ink (a) Geary v. Physick, 5 B. & C., 234 126. It is usual, but not necessary, to insert the name of the place where the bill or note is made: if there is no date it will be considered as dated at the time it is made De la Courtier v. Bellamy, 2 Show., 422. Hague v. French, 3 B. & P., 173. Giles v. Bourne, 6 M. & S., 73 127. Bills and Notes were formerly specialties under seal; and therefore no consideration was required to be expressed in them the same principle holds good now that the formality of sealing is dispensed with, and they are in the form of mere simple contracts White v. Ledwick, 4 Doug., 247. Grant v. Da Costa, 3 M. & S., 351 128.* An instrument which orders any act to be done in addition to the payment of money, is not a bill of exchange An order to pay out of a particular fund is not unconditional within the meaning of this section; but an unqualified order to pay, coupled with (a) an indication of a particular fund out of which the drawee is to re-imburse himself or a particular account to be debited with the amount, or (b) a statement of the transaction which gives rise to the bill, is unconditional |