Date of a Cheque.
Any person who receives an undated cheque is entitled to fill in what he believes to be the correct date, and need not trouble to return it to the drawer for that purpose. He cannot, of course, make any alteration in the date, but should, in the event of a mistake on the drawer’s part, return it to him for correction, when he (the drawer) would make the desired alteration and write his initials against it. It is, perhaps, as well to remember that a certain class of debtors, who may be described as either “hard up” or “shady,” have their little peculiarities; and one of them is to post-date their cheques when they know that there is not sufficient money at the bank to meet them. Their object, of course, is to gain time; and should a payee, upon receiving such a cheque, have cause to think that he is dealing with one of these gentlemen, he might pay in the cheque to his own banker for collection, and write pretty plainly to the drawer, requesting him to call at his banker’s and put the cheque in order. Though a cheque be either post-dated, that is to say, dated so that it falls due after the day upon which it is drawn, or dated on a Sunday, the document is not invalidated thereby.