§ 17.

Time for acceptance.

on the bill, vide § 2, but it is not necessary, though usual, to prefix to the drawee's signature any words of acceptance. The drawee's signature is sufficient to imply acceptance. It is not competent to prove by parole, or by a reference to oath that the drawee accepted verbally.

(2.) On the bill. An acceptance cannot be given in a separate writing or on a copy of the bill, but where the bill is drawn in a set, the acceptance may be written on any one of the parts, but not on more than one, vide § 71 (4). The acceptance may be written on the back of a bill, Watters, 7th March, 1818, F. C. 647; Walker's Trustees v. M'Kinlay, 14th June, 1880, 7 R., H. L. 85, 96; 5 Ap. Cases, 754.

(3.) And signed. The drawee may sign by initials, if that be his usual mode of subscription, vide note (a) (5) on § 3, or his signature may be adhibited by a third party, by or under his authority, vide § 91 (1), and a corporation may accept by sealing the bill with its corporate seal, § 91 (2), but see note (a) (6) on § 3.

(4.) No one except the drawee, or an agent per procuration for him can accept, vide note (b); see § 65 (3) as to acceptance for honour, supra protest.

(5.) Must not promise implement by any other means than the payment of money. An acceptance to pay in bank-notes, ex parte Imeson, 2 Rose, Bankruptcy Cases, 225, or negotiable paper, or delivery warrants is invalid, and a holder who takes such an acceptance loses his recourse against the drawer and prior indorsers. The acceptance must be to pay, and not to account, or to discharge a debt due to him by the payee.

If the bill be payable after sight, the acceptance ought to be dated, but the date may be inserted by the holder, vide § 12.

18. A bill may be accepted,

(1.) Before it has been signed by the drawer, or while otherwise incomplete (a):

(2.) When it is overdue (b), or after it has been dis-
honoured by a previous refusal to accept (c), or
by non-payment (d):

(3.) When a bill payable after sight is dishonoured
by non-acceptance, and the drawee subsequently
accepts it, the holder, in the absence of any
different agreement, is entitled to have the bill
accepted as of the date of first presentment to
the drawee for acceptance (e).

(a.) An acceptor may even write his signature on a completely blank paper. If he do so on stamped paper, and deliver it for the purpose of being made a bill, he gives a prima facie authority to fill it up for any amount the stamp will cover, vide § 20.

(b.) Vide §§ 14 and 45 (1, 2).

(c.) Vide $$ 42 and 43.

(d.) Vide § 47.

(e.) If the holder has not given notice of dishonour, and
thereafter obtains an acceptance of a bill payable after sight
as of the date of the second presentment, the drawer and prior
indorsers will be discharged, unless where they consent. If
a bill after dishonour by non-acceptance be accepted, and the
acceptance be not dated, the holder will be entitled to fill
in the date of the first presentment as the true date of accept-
ance, vide § 12.
S

$ 18,

19. (1.) An acceptance is either (a) general or (b) General and qualified.

(2.) A general acceptance assents without qualification to the order of the drawer (a). A qualified (b) acceptance in express terms varies the effect of the bill as drawn.

qualified acceptances

$ 19.

In particular an acceptance is qualified which is—
(a.) conditional (c), that is to say, which makes
payment by the acceptor dependent on the ful-
filment of a condition therein stated:

(b.) partial (d), that is to say, an acceptance to pay
part only of the amount for which the bill is
drawn:

(c.) local, that is to say, an acceptance to pay only at a particular specified place:

An acceptance to pay at a particular place is a general acceptance, unless it expressly states that the bill is to be paid there only and not elsewhere (e).

(d.) qualified as to time (f):

(e.) the acceptance of some one or more of the drawees, but not of all (g).

(a.) A general acceptance binds the acceptor to pay the sum for which the bill is drawn to the person named in the bill and his indorsers, at the date stated in the bill, at the place there stated, or if none be stated, at the residence, or place of business of the drawee.

(b.) A qualified acceptance may vary the effect of the bill in any way except that it must not promise performance by any other means than the payment of money, vide § 17 (b), nor must it engage for payment of a larger sum, as that would make a new contract under the Stamp Act, 33 & 34 Vict. c. 97, vide Appendix. A holder is not bound to take a qualified acceptance, nor even a partial acceptance. If he does, without the express or implied assent of the drawer and prior indorsers, he loses his claim of recourse against them, vide § 44; but a partial acceptance may be taken without such assent, provided that notice thereof be given, ibid. The qualification must appear ex facie of the bill, and the acceptor cannot avail

himself of a qualification expressed in a separate writing, in a
question with a holder in due course. A verbal qualification
cannot be proved, because it is expressly required that an
acceptance shall be in writing. The noting of a memorandum
on the bill by the acceptor does not necessarily qualify his
acceptance. Thus the addition of the words "as cautioner "
does not vary the acceptor's engagement to pay, I. Bell's Com.
424. Walker's Trustees v. M'Kinlay, 7 R., H. L. 85, 96; 5 Ap.
Cases, 754, and cases there quoted.

(c.) Conditional acceptances cannot be sued on without proof
that the condition has been fulfilled, and can therefore not be
a warrant for the use of summary diligence.

(d.) Where a partial acceptance is taken, notice that it has been taken must be given, in order to preserve recourse against the drawer and prior indorsers; but their assent is not required. If the bill be a foreign bill, it must be protected as to the balance, vide § 44.

(e.) This clause re-enacts the provision of 1 & 2 Geo. IV. c. 78, § 1, which is scheduled as one of the repealed enact

ments.

(f.) If, in the case of a bill payable after sight, the acceptance be postdated, or antedated, the drawer and prior indorsers will apparently be discharged in a question with the person who takes such an acceptance, but a holder in due course will be entitled to recourse against them.

(g.) An acceptance by one drawee for himself and the other drawees is an acceptance by them all, if he have express or implied authority to accept.

§ 19.

instruments.

20. (1.) Where a simple signature on a blank Incohate stamped (a) paper is delivered (b) by the signer in order that it may be converted into a bill, (c) it operates as a prima facie authority (d) to fill it up as a complete bill for any amount the stamp will cover, using the signature for that of the drawer, or the acceptor, or an indorser; and, in like manner, when a

$ 20.

bill is wanting (e) in any material particular, the person in possession (f) of it has a prima facie authority to fill up the omission in any way he thinks fit.

(2.) In order that any such instrument when completed may be enforceable against any person who became a party thereto prior to its completion, it must be filled up within a reasonable time, and strictly in accordance with the authority given. Reasonable time for this purpose is a question of fact (g).

Provided that if any such instrument after completion is negotiated to a holder in due course it shall be valid and effectual for all purposes in his hands, and he may enforce it as if it had been filled up within a reasonable time and strictly in accordance with the authority given (h).

(a.) Special stamps are appropriated to bills and promissory notes, and stamped paper in this section means paper bearing an impressed bill stamp. This section does not apply (1) to a signature on paper stamped with a different stamp, even if the proper stamp be afterwards affixed as permitted by 33 & 34 Vict. c. 97, § 53, vide Appendix; (2) to a signature on paper bearing an adhesive stamp which may be used for denoting the duty on a bill payable on demand.

(b.) It is essential that the stamped paper with the signature thereon be delivered in order to be made a bill. If it is delivered for some other purpose, or if it be not delivered at all, but be lost or stolen, the filling up of a bill thereon is of no effect, and does not bind the person whose signature is written thereon, even in a question with a holder in due course. Thus in Baxendale v. Bennet, 3 Q. B., Div. 525, the defendant gave H. his blank acceptance on stamped paper, and authorised him to fill in his name as drawer.

H.