individual upon himself, and cannot be treated as promissory notes. 16 Cal. 286.

SEC. 3. The first and principal requisite of a bill of exchange is, that it must be for the payment of money only, and for a named sum certain. 8 Cal. 104.

SEC. 4. The following written order possesses all the requisites of an inland bill of exchange:

It contains a direction for the payment of money by one person to another, absolutely and at all events. As no time is specified it is to be taken as payable at sight. No further particulars than these are essential to constitute a bill of exchange. The insertion of the word "please" does not alter the character of the instrument. This is the usual term of civility, and does not necessarily imply that a favor is asked. 12 Cal. 97.

SEC. 5. There is little or no difference between checks, so called, and bills of exchange, except so far as that difference may arise from the custom of merchants, or the statute regulation of the particular jurisdiction in which they are used. They are similar in form and the courts have placed them upon the same footing. 4 Cal. 37.

This instrument has all the attributes of a bill of exchange, and differs from an ordinary check, which is generally drawn payable at sight, and raises the supposition that the drawer has the amount of money in the hands of the drawee, which becomes at once appropriated for its payment. Checks of this kind are sight bills, and, under our statute, are not entitled to grace; but the above instrument, being an order to pay at a future day, is an inland bill of exchange, and the drawer is entitled to three days' grace and notice of nonpayment. Therefore, the presentation for payment and notice of non-payment given to the drawer, and, consequently,

the commencement of the action on the fifteenth of June, were premature. 4 Cal. 37.

Form of Certificate of Deposit.

SEC. 6. The following is a form of certificate of deposit:

Certificates of deposit, although differing in form from a promissory note, yet have all of its important incidents. Each contains a promise by one person to pay another person, absolutely and unconditionally, a certain sum of money, at a time specified therein. The rules of law, in reference to all securities, ought to be applied according to the nature of the security, and not to be influenced by the name by which the paper is commonly known. Certificates of deposit must, therefore, be, as far as negotiability is concerned, placed upon the same footing as promissory notes, which were negotiable at common law and have been expressly made so by our statute. 4 Cal. 40.

SEC. 7. Bills of credit signify a paper medium, intended to circulate between individuals and between government and individuals, for the ordinary purposes of society, and embrace every description of paper which circulates as money. 7 Cal. 477.

SEC. 8. A note, written by a party beginning "I, A B, promise to pay," has been held good, though no name was written under it. So it has been held, that if a party request another in his presence to write his name for him, it is sufficient. 8 Cal. 573.

SEC. 9. The legal effect of a promissory note is the same, with or without the words, "value received." 8 Cal. 291.

Negotiable Paper, What is.

SEC. 10. All notes in writing, made and signed by any person, whereby he shall promise to pay to any other person or to his order, or to the order of any other person, or

unto the bearer, any sum of money therein mentioned, shall be due and payable as therein expressed, and shall have the same effect and be negotiable in like manner as inland bills of exchange, according to the custom of merchants. Every such note, signed by the agent of any person, under a general or special authority, shall bind such person, and shall have the same effect and be negotiable as above provided. The word "person" shall be construed to extend to every corporation capable by law of making contracts. The payees and indorsers of every such note payable to them or their order, and the holders of every such note payable to bearer, may maintain actions for the sums of money therein mentioned against the makers and indorsers of the same, respectively, in like manner as in cases of inland bills of exchange, and not otherwise. Gen. Laws, 422-425.

SEC. 11. Such notes, made payable to the maker thereof or to the order of a fictitious person, shall, if negotiated by the maker, have the same effect and be of the same validity as against the maker and all persons having knowledge of the facts as if payable to the bearer. Gen. Laws, 426.

SEC. 12. Notes non-negotiable at common law are made negotiable with us by positive statute. True, the persons to whom such notes are transferred hold them subject to all defenses that might be urged in suits against the maker brought by the payee; but that fact is not inconsistent with an absolute ownership of the securities vested in the party to whom they may have been transferred. 24 Cal. 210.

SEC. 13. A warrant drawn by the auditor of a county upon the treasurer, although payable to "A or bearer," does not possess the quality of negotiable paper so as to make it transferable by delivery. 23 Cal. 125.

SEC. 14. A judgment is not a negotiable instrument like a bill of exchange by the law merchant. 18 Cal. 438.

SEC. 15. A draft or order by A on B to pay C or order the balance due A by B, is not a negotiable security, not being for any fixed sum, but if indorsed by B, "balance due, one thousand dollars," over his signature, it becomes a promise by B to pay C or his order that sum, and is negotiable. 8 Cal. 101.

SEC. 16. A bill of lading is not a negotiable instrument, like a bill of exchange. In this country no instruments are negotiable but regular promissory notes and bills of exchange. 1 Cal. 79.

Of the Consideration, What Good.

SEC. 17. An outstanding liability as surety or indorser for another, together with a contract or promise, express or implied, by such surety or indorser to the principal, that he will make the debt his own and pay it, and so indemnify the principal, is a good consideration for an express promise to pay an equal amount on demand. 13 Cal. 333.

SEC. 18. When an indorser has, either expressly or impliedly, undertaken to pay the note by him indorsed, such an undertaking is a good and valuable consideration for a promissory note. 13 Cal. 334.

Of Fraud, Failure or Illegality of Consideration.

SEC. 19. Notes given for a gaming consideration are valid in the hands of a bona fide indorsee. 2 Cal. 67.

SEC. 20. A check given for a gaming debt is void in the hands of all persons except a bona fide holder, without notice. 10 Cal. 523.

SEC. 21. With checks, as with promissory notes, the presumption is that they are given upon a valid consideration; but this presumption being rebutted, the necessity is thrown upon the holder of proving that he received it in good faith, without notice of the illegality of the consideration. 10 Cal. 526.

SEC. 22. Story, in his work on equity jurisprudence (Sec. 208), says that if a vendor sell an estate, knowing that there are incumbrances upon it of which the vendee is ignorant, the suppression of such a fact will be sufficient to avoid the sale upon the ground of fraud. This rule rests upon the soundest principles of equity and justice, and the courts have always been ready to enforce it by relieving the purchaser from the consequences of his bargain. Silence under such circumstances amounts to a fraudulent concealment, but the failure to speak cannot be regarded as fraudulent if the ignorance of the purchaser is attributable

to his own negligence. It is not the policy of the law to encourage laches, and if the means of information are known to the purchaser, and within his reach, he cannot afterwards allege his ignorance as a ground of fraud, unless by deceit or misrepresentation he has been actually misled. The seller has the right to act upon the presumption that he had informed himself of whatever he considered it his interest to know, and the courts will treat the transaction as a purchase made with full knowledge of the facts, and decline to interfere. A broader and more comprehensive equity is frequently administered in cases of specific performance, but in such cases courts of equity sometimes proceed upon grounds entirely independent of the validity of the contract. Ward vs. Packard et al., 18 Cal. 391.

SEC. 23. When at the time a note is made, and as a part of the same transaction, a third person indorses an absolute guaranty upon the note, the note and the guaranty are but parts of the same instrument, the note expressing that which first applies to the maker, and the guaranty expressing that which applies only to the guarantor, while the note and guaranty taken together make up the contract as between the payee and the guarantor. It is competent for parties to refer to any writing for a given purpose, and writing for that purpose becomes a part of the instrument signed by the party to be charged; and it does not matter in what place or in what order the parties sign their names, the intention must govern. Where the guaranty is indorsed upon the instrument after it is made, and therefore constituted no part of the original instrument, the guaranty will fail, for the reason that there is either no consideration for the promise in fact, or the new consideration is not expressed in the instrument to which reference is made. 7 Cal. 34, 35.

SEC. 24. Want or illegality of consideration may be inquired into in a suit upon a bill or note between the original parties, by the general mercantile law, but where these securities have passed into the hands of third persons without notice, the maker is estopped from setting up such defense. This peculiar system of credit is favored by the law; and a rule requiring the indorsee of every bill or note