competent to contract, the genuineness of all the signatures, and that the paper is not in violation of the law for any reason; and further he guarantees by a full indorsement, that the paper will be honored by acceptance and payment, and for this guaranty he is liable to each subsequent indorsee. These rights inure to the de facto holder of the bill, and he can sue upon the bill or further negotiate it, and though guilty of a fraud in parting with it, give title to a bona fide holder for value without notice who takes it before maturity. Any irregularity, as a torn paper, patent on the face of a bill is equivalent to notice, and the holder who takes such an instrument will not be considered an innocent holder. (Ingham v. Primrose, 7 C. B. N. S. 82.).

In an action by the de facto holder it may be shown that he holds adversely to the true owner, and that he is agent or trustee for another person, and then any defense or set-off available against such person is available against the holder. (Benj.'s Chalmers, B. N. & C., Art. 141.)

An action at law may be maintained upon a lost bill, when it is shown to have been destroyed; or that it has come into the possession of the defendant since its loss; or that the defendant is protected from future liability by the statute of limitations. This action upon lost instruments is now regulated in England and some of the States by statute. The holder has also a remedy in a court of equity by giving a bond of indemnity against future liability on the bill. (Torrey v. Foss, 40 Me. 74; Hagerstown v. Adams Ex. Co., 45 Pa. St. 419.)

Sec. 814.

CHAPTER VI.

DUTIES OF THE HOLDER.

IN GENERAL.-The duties of the holder of a bill include presentment for acceptance, presentment for payment, protesting for non-acceptance or non-payment, the giving notice of dishonor to all parties secondarily liable on the instrument whom he desires to hold liable, and the delivery of the paper on receiving payment. In the preceding chapter we have discussed at more or less length the subjects of presentment, whether for acceptance or payment, and to this the student is now referred.

Sec. 815. HOW TO ASCERTAIN THE PROPER DATE FOR PRESENTMENT.-In computing time on all commercial paper the day of date is excluded, so where the paper is payable one year from date it will mature on the first anniversary of that date. Where days of grace are allowed the date of maturity will be three days later, on the last day of grace. (Henry v. Jones, 8 Mass. 453.) When the term month is used it is held to mean a calendar month and not a lunar month. In an instrument payable a stated number of days after sight, or after date, the day of sight or date is excluded and the day of payment included in the computation.

Presentment for payment cannot be made on a Sunday or legal holiday, in such case, and when days of

grace are not allowed, the note maturing on a holiday or Sunday, as the maker cannot be compelled to pay sooner than he had promised, the note or bill will have to be presented on the next business day. But where days of grace are allowed and the last day of grace is a holiday, the demand should be made on the preceding day, since these days are a matter of indulgence to the maker or acceptor in their origin. (Barrett v. Allen, 10 Ohio 426; Shepherd v. Spates, 4 Md. 400.)

Sec. 816. MODE OF PRESENTMENT.-As a general rule the presentment is made by the holder or his agent presenting the bill to the acceptor and demanding payment. But where the bill is payable at a bank, it is sufficient if the paper is there in possession of one entitled to receive payment. By usage the banks in some States give notice to the promisor a few days before maturity of the fact that the paper will be due on a named day, and it has been held that this preliminary notice will take the place of a formal presentment on the day of maturity. (Weld v. Gorham, 10 Mass. 366.)

PROTEST.

Sec. 817. MEANING AND PURPOSE OF PROTEST.-"Protest" means a formal notarial certificate attesting the dishonor of a bill. It must be made by a notary public or other person authorized to act as such, except where a notary cannot be obtained, in which case it may be made by any respectable person in the presence of two witnesses. (Burke v. McKay, 2 How.

The purpose of the protest and certificate is to furnish legal evidence of the fact that proper demand had been made upon the promisor and notice of dishonor given in a suit by the holder against the prior parties. It does away with the necessity of witnesses to prove these facts, and being so much more expedient in cases of foreign bills, it has long been the universal rule of the law merchant in England and America that such bills must be protested in order to hold the prior parties. Inland bills, or domestic paper, being of easier proof, unless the statutes require it, need not be protested for nonpayment, and protest of such paper independent of statute would have no effect. (Daniel, Sec. 927.) * The convenience of proving the essential facts of dishonor by notarial certificate has caused the enactment in most of the States of statutes requiring or permitting the protesting of inland bills and notes. (Tiedeman, Com. Pap., Sec. 321.)

When a foreign bill of exchange is dishonored it must be duly protested for non-acceptance or non-payment, as the case may be in order that the holder may preserve his right of recourse against the drawer and indorsers. This is indispensable. (Union Bank v. Hide, 6 Wheat. 572.)

If a bill of exchange is dishonored by non-acceptance, and the holder without proper excuse neglects to protest

*If the holder has paper protested for non-payment when the law merchant or statutes do not require or allow protest, the notary public cannot recover his fees of the parties to the paper. (Cramer v. Eagle Mfg. Co., 23 Kan. 400.)

it, the drawer and indorsers are discharged as regards such holder and all subsequent holders, who have knowledge that the bill has been dishonored, but such parties are not discharged as regards a holder who takes such a bill before maturity and without knowledge of its dishonor. (Benj.'s Chalmers, B. N. & C., Art. 181.) So a bill dishonored for non-acceptance must be protested, but when this is done it need not be subsequently protested for non-payment. (Whitehead v. Walker, 9 M. & W. 516.).

Sec. 818. NOTING, OR PREPARATION FOR PROTEST.-As we have seen (Chapter V), any holder may present the bill or note for payment and receive payment, but in case payment is refused and protest becomes necessary, the notary public who makes the protest is obliged by law to make a second demand, so that he can of his personal knowledge certify to the fact of dishonor. In England the preliminary presentment is made by the notary's clerk, but in America such a presentment is insufficient unless authorized by statute or custom of the place. (Bank v. Barnum, 49 N. Y. 275; Cribbs v. Adams, 13 Gray 597.)

"Noting" means a minute made by the notary public on a dishonored bill at the time of its dishonor. The "noting" consists merely of the notary's initials, date, charges, and cause of dishonor, as "no effects," and may be made on the back of the instrument or on a ticket attached to it. (Brooks' Notary, 4th ed., pp. 80-82.) This noting of the dishonor is for the convenience of the notary, who by the law merchant is required to make