SPECIMEN FORM OF DRAFT
Before the words "pay to" the time when the draft is due should be inserted—as "at sight" or "30 days after date"
SPECIMEN FORM OF CHECK
ILLUSTRATIONS.—To illustrate the difference between the two: Jones worked for the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Co. He presented his bill of $100 to the proper official, and a check was issued by the railroad payable to the order of Jones for that amount. Jones took the check, indorsed it, and with it paid his grocery bill. The grocery man deposited the check in his bank, and was notified shortly thereafter that payment had been stopped on the check by the Baltimore & Ohio. They claimed a fraud had been committed, that Jones was overpaid $50, and, therefore, they refused to honor the check. The grocery man, having taken this check in the usual course of business, is what we term a "holder in due course." The N.I.L. defines a holder in due course as:
Section 52. "A holder in due course is a holder who has taken the instrument under the following conditions: (1) That it is complete and regular upon its face; (2) That he became the holder of it before it was overdue, and without notice that it had been previously dishonored, if such was the fact; (3) That he took it in good faith and for value; (4) That at the time it was negotiated to him he had no notice of any infirmity in the instrument or defect in the title of the person negotiating it."
A holder in due course, then, would be entitled to collect the full $100 from the Baltimore & Ohio. This check is governed by the law of negotiability with the result which we have just indicated. Now change the facts a trifle. Jones presented his bill to the same officer of the Baltimore & Ohio as before. The officer says that checks are made out regularly on the first of the month. It was the fifteenth, and Jones did not feel able to wait until the first of the next month. He went to a friend and told him of his claim against the Baltimore & Ohio, and said: "I will assign this claim to you for $95, and then you can present the assignment, which I will draw up and sign, to the Baltimore & Ohio on the first of the month, and get the $100." His friend agrees and advances the money. When he presents the written assignment to the proper officer on the first of the month, he is told that the railroad has discovered that Jones' claim was really good for only $50, and that is all they will pay. Although his assignment reads for $100, he can collect only $50. This illustration is governed by the law of assignability, which applies to practically all contracts, apart from commercial paper. Under the rules of assignability, a person can assign no better claim than he has, or, as is sometimes said, the assignee stands in the shoes of the assignor. Jones really had a claim of only $50 against the Baltimore & Ohio, although he claimed it was $100. He could assign no more than he really had. These two illustrations show the great difference in the result of the application of the two principles, negotiability and assignability.
THE FORMAL REQUIREMENTS OF NEGOTIABLE PAPER.—There are certain formalities which all negotiable paper must have. It must be in writing, and signed by the proper person. No form of writing is specified in the Act, and lead pencil, or even slate pencil, is as good as ink, except that in the two latter cases the ease with which these forms of writing may be altered makes them most undesirable for use. But there is no law requiring the use of ink.