ther to use it, and returns it within the time for which it was borrowed, he is not liable.

§ 5. A person who receives goods in security for a debt. or engagement, is liable for ordinary neglect. But if he bestows ordinary care upon the goods, and they should then be lost, he still has a claim upon the pawnor for the debt.

§ 6. When property is hired, that is, when something is to be paid for the use of an article, and it is injured by moderate usage, the owner bears the loss; but the hirer must not use it for any purpose but that for which it is hired, and he must return it promptly, or he is liable for damage. § 7. If an article is delivered upon which work is to be bestowed, the work must be properly done. A manufacturer who receives wool to make into cloth, or the tailor who takes cloth to make into a garment, must do the work well, or he is liable for damage. If the property should be lost or stolen, he is responsible for ordinary neglect.

§ 8. Innkeepers are, in general, responsible for all injuries to the goods and baggage of their guests, even for thefts. But for losses caused by unavoidable accident, or robbery, they are not liable.

§ 9. A common carrier, that is, one who carries goods for hire as a common employment, is responsible to the owner, even if robbed of the goods. But a person who occasionally carries goods for hire is not a common carrier, and is answerable only for ordinary neglect, unless he expressly takes the risk. A common carrier is one who holds himself out as ready to carry goods as a business, by land or by water, and is answerable for all losses, except in cases of public enemies, as in time of war, and in case of the act of God, as by lightning, storms, floods, &c.

§ 10. A common carrier is bound to receive from any person paying or tendering the freight charges, such goods as he is accustomed to carry, and as are offered for the place to which he carries. But he may refuse to receive them if he is full, or if they are dangerous to be carried, or for other good reasons. He may refuse to take them unless the charges are paid; but if he agrees to take payment at the end of the route, he may retain them there until the freight is paid. A carrier must deliver freight in a reasonable time; but he is not liable for loss by the freezing of a river or canal during his voyage, if he has used due diligence.

11. Proprietors of a stage coach do not warrant the safety of passengers in the character of common carriers ; and they are not responsible for mere accidents to the persons of the passengers, but only for want of due care. Slight fault, unskillfulness, or negligence, either as to the sufficiency of the carriage, or to the act of driving it, may render the owner responsible in damages for injury to passengers. But as public carriers, they are answerable for the loss of a box or parcel of goods, though ignorant of its contents; unless the owner fraudulently conceals the value or nature of the article, or deludes the carrier by treating it as of little or no value. Public carriers are responsible for the baggage of their passengers, though they advertise it as being at the risk of the owners.

CHAPTER LVII

PROMISSORY NOTES.

§ 1. A PROMISSORY note is a written promise to pay a specified sum, at a certain time, to a person named, or to his order, or to the bearer. A common form of a note is the following: $100. ALBANY, June 9, 1858. Three months after date, I promise to pay to James Smith, or bearer, one hundred dollars, value received. JOHN BROWN.

2. Notes thus written may be bought and sold as property in general, and perform, in many cases, the same office as money. But if in the above note the words " or bearer" were omitted, it would not possess the same qualities; or, as men say, it would not be negotiable; there being no promise to pay any other person than Smith. It might be sold; but the buyer, if obliged to sue, must sue in the name of Smith; in which case, Brown might offset any demands which he might have against Smith. The words or bearer should therefore be inserted, that any holder may collect it in his own name.

§ 3. Notes are also made negotiable by writing the words or order in the place of "or bearer;" but in this case, the person to whom a note is payable, who is called the payee, or promisee, must indorse it; which is done by writing his name on the back of it. Such indorsement is considered, in law, as his order to the maker or promiser to pay it to another person. Being thus indorsed, it is negotiable; that is, it becomes a subject of purchase and sale, and may pass from hand to hand by simple delivery, as if made payable to bearer, and may be sued in the name of any bona fide holder.

§ 4. It is usual to insert the words, "value received,” as evidence that the note was given for a valuable consideration; for it will be recollected, that contracts are not valid without such consideration. But a note is good without these words. Whether they are inserted or not, the note is presumed to have been given for a valuable consideration; and the maker can not avoid his obligation to pay it, without making it appear that no value was received. In Connecticut, a note which is not negotiable in form, and not for value received, does not imply a consideration. Consequently, value must be proved by the holder. In Missouri, to make a note negotiable, it must contain the words, "for value received, negotiable, and without defalcation." (See § 12.)

§ 5. A note made by two or more persons may be joint, or joint or several. When it is written, "We promise to pay," it is only a joint note, and all must be sued together. If written, "We jointly and severally promise to pay," they may be sued either jointly or separately. Or if written, "I promise to pay," it is treated as a joint and several note. A note written, "We promise," and signed, A. B. principal, and C. D. security, is the joint note of both; and if written, "I promise," and signed in the same manner, it is the joint and several note of both.

§ 6. Any person having in possession a negotiable note, though a mere agent, is deemed the true owner, and may sue on it in his own name, without showing title. The bona fide holder can recover upon the paper, though it came to him from a person who had stolen or robbed it from the true owner; provided he took it innocently in the course of trade, for a valuable consideration, before it was due,

and with due caution. If, however, suspicion is cast upon the title of the holder, by showing that the instrument has got into circulation by force or fraud, then the holder must show the consideration he gave for it.

§ 7. It has been observed, that a man can not convey to another a valid title to property which is not lawfully his own; and hence, that the purchaser of stolen goods must give them up to the lawful owner. The exception to this rule, in the case of promissory notes, seems, however, to be founded in reason and good policy. The use of negotiable paper in commercial transactions is of great public convenience and it is proper that, for the sake of trade, protection should be given to the holder of such paper who receives it fairly in the way of business, though it has been paid, if he received it before it fell due.

§ 8. But it is equally material for the interests of trade, that the owner should have due protection. Hence, if a person takes a note from a stranger without inquiry how he came by it; or does not take it in the usual course of business, or for some responsibility incurred on the credit of the note, he takes it at his peril. But the owner, in order to place his right to relief beyond question, ought to use diligence in apprising the public of the loss of the note.

§ 9. The indorsement of a note, in the view of the law, amounts to a contract, on the part of the indorser, with the indorsee and every subsequent holder; (1.) That the note and the antecedent signatures are genuine; (2.) That he, the indorser, has a good title to the note; (3.) That he is competent to bind himself as indorser; (4.) That the maker is competent to bind himself for the payment, and will pay it when due; (5.) That if not so paid by the maker, he, the indorser, will, upon due notice given him that the note is dishonored, pay the same to the indorsee, or other holder.

§ 10. An indorsement made by writing the name only on the back of a note, is called a blank indorsement. A full indorsement is one which also points out the person to whom the note is to be paid. But a blank indorsement may be filled up at any time by the holder. For example: A note is payable to "John Jay, or order," or to "the order of John Jay," who indorses it in blank, which makes it payable to any other holder. But if the indorsee, the person to whom it is indorsed, wishes it paid to any particular person, he

may fill up the blank by writing a request to that effect above the name of the indorser, thus: "Pay to George Bruce," or "Pay to George Bruce or order;" who, again, may by indorsement order it paid to some particular person. Or, by indorsing it in blank, or ordering it paid to the bearer, it would again pass, as at first, by mere delivery.

§ 11. In ordinary business transactions in the country, notes intended to be negotiable, are usually made payable to bearer, as in the form given, (§ 1.) And the young reader, inexperienced in business, may not know why they are not always so written. One advantage of making a note payable to order, is the protection which it affords to the holder or owner, in case the note should be lost or stolen. Take, for example, the note indorsed in blank in the case supposed in the last section. The owner, we will suppose, resides in Buffalo, and the maker in Detroit. The owner fills the blank over the name of John Jay with a request to "pay to George Bruce," also residing in Detroit, to whom it is sent by mail, to be by him presented to the maker for payment. And should the note by accident or fraud fall into the hands of another, it being payable to Bruce only, or to his order, the parties are protected from loss.

§ 12. A person buying a note after it has become due, takes it at his peril. Although the holder may sue it in his own name, the maker may offset any demands which he had against the promisee before it was transferred. But when notes in which no day of payment is expressed come under the operation of this rule, is a question to be determined by circumstances. In the states of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Missouri, and perhaps others, the words "without defalcation or discount," or words to that effect, must be inserted in notes, or they may be met by offsets as notes that are bought after due. Also notes payable in some commodity are subject to the same rule.

§ 13. Notes payable on demand, are due immediately; and payment need not be demanded before the holder can sue. Also, if no time of payment is mentioned in a note, it is due when given, and no demand of payment is necessary. But a note payable at sight, or at a specified time after sight, must be presented for payment before it can be sued. If the words "with interest" are omitted, a note will not draw