interest before the time at which it is due. If it is payable on demand, it will draw interest from the time payment is demanded.

§ 14. After the day on which a note is made payable, the maker is allowed three days for payment, which are called days of grace. The day on which the note becomes payable, is not to be counted one of the three days. Thus, a note dated the first day of January, having three months to run, is payable on the first day of April, which day is included in the three months, so that the last day of grace is the fourth day of the month. By general usage, a note does not become due on the day mentioned on its face, but on the last day of grace.

§ 15. We have seen the object of indorsements, and their binding effect upon the indorsers. Certain acts are necessary to fix responsibility upon an indorser of a note payable to order. The omission, or imperfect performance of these acts, has often operated to discharge indorsers from liability. In order to hold an indorser responsible, the holder must make a prompt demand of payment of the maker, and give reasonable notice of his default to the indorser. The object of such demand and notice is to afford the indorser opportunity to obtain security from those for whom he has become liable.

§ 16. Demand of payment must be made of the maker of a note on the last day of grace; or, if such day falls on Sunday, or the fourth day of July, or any other day recognized by law as a holyday, or day of public rest, then the demand must be made on the second day of grace. If the third day of grace should fall on Sunday, and any holyday as Christmas, or fourth of July, should happen on Saturday, the demand must be made on Friday. As the holder may be required to prove that payment has been demanded, it must be done in presence of one or more witnesses. As to the time of day when the demand should be made, it is considered that the maker is entitled to the latest convenient time within the customary business hours of the place where the note is presented.

§ 17. If, in consequence of the removal of the maker before the note becomes due, or from any other cause, his residence is unknown, the holder must make endeavors to find it, and make the demand there; though, if he has re

moved out of the state, it is sufficient to present the note at his former place of residence. If the maker has absconded, that will, as a general rule, excuse the demand.

§ 18. If payment has been demanded and refused, notice thereof must be given to the indorser; and one entire day is allowed the holder to give such notice. If the demand is made on Saturday, it is sufficient to give notice on Monday. If the indorser resides in the same town, he may be notified personally by the holder, or by a special messenger sent to his dwelling-house, where notice may be given personally, or left in a way likely to bring it to his knowledge. If the parties reside in different towns, notice may be sent by mail; in which case the notice must be put into the post-office, or mailed, as early as the next day after the third day of grace, so as to be forwarded as soon as possible thereafter. Or, notice may be sent by a private conveyance, or special messenger.

§ 19. Notes, on being transferred, are sometimes guarantied by indorsement. If a person simply write his name on the back, he is liable as an indorser only. If he guaranties the "payment" of the note, he is generally considered liable as an original promisor. If he guaranties the note "good" or "collectable," legal proceedings must be had against the maker, and indorsers also, if there be any, before the guarantor is liable. Strict notice to a guarantor is not required, as in the case of an indorser; but to hold him liable, it must be shown that he has not been prejudiced by the want of notice, or that the note was not collectable of the maker or indorsers when due. But the kind of liability incurred, whether that of indorser, original promisor, or surety, by indorsing a note or guarantying payment, is not the same in all the states. There are sundry other points in the law relating to promissory notes on which the statutes and judicial decisions are not uniform in all the different states.

CHAPTER LVIII.

BILLS OF EXCHANGE; INTEREST; USURY.

§ 1. A BILL of exchange is a written order or request to a person in a distant place to pay a third person a certain sum of money. The following is a common form :

$1,000.

NEW YORK, April 10, 1858.

Twenty days after date, pay to the order of John Stiles, one thousand dollars, value received, and charge the same to account of

TO GEORGE SCOTT,

New Orleans, La.

THOMAS JONES.

§ 2. It will be seen that this is, in effect, the same as an order used in common business. But when drawn by merchants in commercial cities on persons in distant places, orders of this kind are called bills of exchange. They are often very convenient to persons in mercantile business. Bills drawn on persons in foreign countries, are called foreign bills of exchange; and those which are drawn on persons in distant places in our own country, are by way of distinction, called inland bills of exchange.

§ 3. The nature and operation of a bill of exchange are thus illustrated: A, in New York, has $1,000 due him from B, in New Orleans. A draws an order on B for that sum, and C, who is going to New Orleans, pays A the money, takes the order, and receives his money again of B. Thus A is accommodated by receiving his debt against B, and C has avoided the risk in carrying the money from place to place. A, who draws the bill, is called the drawer. B, to whom it is addressed, is called the drawee. C, to whom it is made payable, is the payee. As the bill is payable to C, or his order, he may, by indorsement, direct the bill to be paid to D; in which case C becomes the indorser, and D, to whom the bill is indorsed, is called the indorsee, or holder.

4. If, when the bill is presented to the drawee, he agrees to pay it, he is said to accept the bill; and as evidence of the fact, writes his acceptance upon it.

An ac

ceptance may, however, be by parol. The acceptor of a bill is the principal debtor, and the drawer the surety. The acceptor is bound, though he accepted without consideration, and for the sole accommodation of the drawer. But payment must be demanded on the last day of grace; and, if refused, notice of nonpayment must be given to the drawer, as in the case of an indorsed note.

§ 5. No precise time is fixed by law at which bills payable at sight, or a certain number of days after sight, must be presented to the drawee for acceptance; though an unreasonable delay might discharge the drawer. A bill pay. able on a certain day after date, need not be presented for acceptance before the day of payment; but if presented before it becomes due, and acceptance is refused, it is dishonored; and notice must be given immediately to the drawer. If a bill has been accepted, demand of payment must be made upon the acceptor when the bill falls due; and it must be made at the place appointed for payment; and if no place is appointed, then at his house or residence, or upon him personally.

§ 6. A check upon a bank, (See Chap. XXIV, § 4,) is another kind of negotiable paper. It partakes more of the nature of a bill of exchange, than a promissory note. It is not a direct promise to pay; but it is an undertaking, by the drawer, that the drawee shall accept and pay; and the drawer is answerable only in case the drawee fails to pay. A check payable to bearer passes by delivery; and the bearer may sue on it as on an inland bill of exchange.

§ 7. When a foreign bill of exchange is to be presented for acceptance or payment, demand is usually made by a notary public; and in case of refusal, his certificate of the presentment of the bill, and of the refusal, is legal proof of the fact in any court. This certificate is called a protest, which means, for proof. A protest may be noted on the day of the demand; though it may be drawn up in form at a future period. Notaries are appointed in all commercial places of considerable business.

§ 8. A protest of an inland bill of exchange is not generally deemed necessary in this country; though it is the practice to have bills, drawn in one state on persons in another, protested by a notary. No protest is legal evidence in court, except in the case of a foreign bill.

Yet it

is expedient, in many cases of inland bills, to employ notaries when evidence is to be preserved, because they are easily found when wanted as witnesses. In some states, bills drawn in one state and payable in another, are deemed foreign bills; and their protest as such is required. Notes payable at banks are also protested for nonpayment.

9. Interest is an allowance for the use of money, or for the forbearance of a debt. Thus a person lends to another $100 for one year, and receives for the use of it $6, which is called the interest. Promissory notes are usually made payable with interest. The rate of interest is fixed by a law of the state, but is not the same in all the states.

§ 10. A higher rate of interest than that fixed by law, is called usury. Not only can no more be collected on any contract or obligation than the lawful rate, but in most of the states there is some forfeiture for taking usurious interest. In some states, the whole debt is forfeited; in others, twice or thrice the excess above the lawful interest; and in some, only the excess taken can be recovered. In the state of New York, no part of a usurious debt can be collected but if it has been paid, only the excess above the lawful interest can be recovered.

:

LAW OF NATIONS.

CHAPTER LIX.

ORIGIN AND PROGRESS OF THE LAW OF NATIONS; THE NATURAL, CUSTOMARY, AND CONVENTIONAL LAWS OF NATIONS, DEFINED.

§ 1. In the course of this work, we have considered the necessity and nature of government and laws, and the dif ferent forms of government under which the people of dif ferent communities are associated, especially that which has been adopted by the people of this country; and we