Order or Bearer.
A cheque is payable either to “order” or to “bearer”; and, if the latter word be used, then it does not require indorsing, while should neither word be upon the document, the cheque is held to be an “order” one. Either the person to whom it is payable or the drawer may change a cheque from bearer to order; and this he would do by running his pen through the former word; but the drawer alone can alter an order cheque by writing the word “bearer” in full and initialling the alteration. If the cheque be signed by more than one drawer, then all should add their initials to any correction it may be desirable to make.
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.
A Stale or Out-of-Date Cheque.
Most bankers would probably decline to pay a cheque which had been outstanding more than six months. The drawer, however, does not cease to be liable upon the instrument until six years after the date thereupon; though he may claim damages against the payee if he can prove that he has suffered loss through his delay.
Crossed Cheques.
Though this practice originated in the United Kingdom, the French banks have now adopted the idea, which is as simple as it is undoubtedly useful and protective to the customer. A cheque may be crossed either generally or specially—specially, that is to say, to some bank or to the account of an individual who keeps an account with a banker.
If a customer draw two parallel lines across the face of a cheque, thus, / /, he has instructed his banker not to give cash in exchange for it to the payee across his counter. It follows that a cheque so marked must be passed through a banking account. The words “& Co.” are sometimes written between the lines; but this addition is almost meaningless, the simple crossing being all that is required.
A person who draws two parallel lines across his cheque, gives the following instructions to his banker: “Do not pay cash over your counter in exchange for this cheque, which must reach you through a banker, and be paid to him alone.”