Of BILLS of EXCHANGE.

Trepondence and Dealing, is a fhort Order for Money, HE Bill of Exchange, in Ufe among Perfons of Corto be received in one Place or Country, for the Value paid in another; to which Men of Credit, pay a very ftrict Honour and Regard. In it are fpecified: 1. The Place of the Drawer's Refidence. 2. The Time of Payment. 3. To whom. 4. The Sum. 5. Ufually at what Rate of Exchange. 6. Of whom the Value was received, or to whofe Accompt the Draught is to be placed. 7. The Drawer's Name. 8. By whom, and Where to be paid.

In Bills of Exchange there are commonly four Persons principally concerned: 1. The Remitter, who pays the Value to, z. The Drawer, who receives it in one Place, and furnishes him with a Bill upon, 3. The Acceptant, who is expected to pay in due Time, to, 4. The Poffeffor or Prefenter, who is to receive the Contents in another Place; not but fometimes there are only three Perfons concerned in a Remittance, and fometimes, though but feldom, two only.

All Bills of Exchange, upon their coming to the Prefenter's Hands, from the Remitter, are immediately to be tendered to the Perfon on whom they are drawn for Acceptance, which, by legal Appointment, ought to be made in Writing under the Bill.

If a Bill be payable at Ufance, or after Date, the Acceptant's fubfcribing his Name, or making any other Mark on the fame, is fufficient and valid Acceptance; but if it be payable after Sight, the Day on which it is tendered for Acceptation must be alfo mentioned upon it; because, upon that depends the Time of Payment; by which Acceptance, he becomes abfolutely and irrevokably Debtor to the Presenter, for the Contents; or the Course of Exchange would, otherwise, be fubject to great Hazards and Uncertainties.

But if the Party, to whom a Bill is directed, refuses to accept it, after twenty four Hours Deliberation, if it be a Foreign Bill, or upon Prefentment, if an Inland Bill, Proteft must be made for Non-Acceptance at the Place of his Abode, by a Notary-Public, who is to be Witnefs of that Refufal; which Proteft fhould, for the Security of the Prefenter, be returned the first Poft to the Remitter, that he

may

may furnish a new Bill, or take his proper Measures with the Parties concerned.

The Drawer of a Bill should always the fame Poft take Care to give his Correfpondent Notice, by Letter, that he has drawn upon him for fo much, payable as in the Bill, to prevent its being Protefted, and fent him back Non-Accepted, for want of due Advice; for in that Cafe, his Correspondent may refufe to accept, till Advice arrives, if the Bill mentions Advice to be expected.

To prevent Interruption of Business by Miscarriage of Letters, or other Accidents, Merchants always draw two, and often three Outland Bills, all of the fame Tenor and Date, excepting in the fecond against the first, and if there be three drawn, against the third alfo, and in the third against the firft and fecond, to prevent the Accepter's paying more than one of them by Mistake; which Bills, the Remitter takes Care to fend his Correfpondent, to whom they are made payable, by different Posts, one of which being answered, the reft are of no Force.

If an accepted Bill be not paid upon Demand, the very Day it falls due, it must be Noted, that is, put into the Hands of a Notary-Public, by the Prefenter, in order to have a Proteft drawn up, under a Copy of the Bill, for Non-Payment; which Proteft, within fourteen Days at fartheft, must be returned (but not the Bill itself, unless for special Reasons) to the Remitter, who paid the Value, and who is to give Satisfaction for his Concern therein to the Prefenter, and who will procure Satisfaction of the Drawer; not only with refpect to the Principal Sum, and the Intereft thereof, from the Day of Proteft, but also may recover the Rechange of the faid Sum, with Charges of Proteft, and whatever Damages fhall be incurred by the Default of his Correfpondent, the Acceptant; though Rechange is not always infifted on.

The Neglect of Proteft in due Time, leaves the Prefenter or Poffeffor of a Bill no Security but that of the Acceptant; whereas he has otherwife, the Drawer, and every one of the Indorfers, (if any) befides the Acceptant, to depend on for the Principal and Damages; and if but one of them prove fufficient, he will be no Lofer.

No Bill of Exchange can be protefted, unless the Value be mentioned therein to be received, and the Perfon named of whom; nor is it usual among Dealers to note an Inland Bill under 20. Value, fuch Bills are commonly re

turned

turned without Charges; not but that it may, after Acceptance, be lawfully done, if the Bill be above 51. Value.

If you Difcompt, or pay a Debt with an Inland Bill, payable to your Self or Order, you write your Name on the Backfide, and deliver it into the Poffeffion of the Person you intend to make it over to, which is called Indorfing, whereby you affign all your Property therein to him; and in Cafe of the Acceptant's Failure before it is paid, You are, by Virtue thereof, as refponfible to fuch your Affign for the Contents and Damages, upon Proteft made, as the Remitter is to you, and the Drawer to him. In like Manner, let a Bill be indorsed by several Perfons, the Poffeffor, or Perfon to whom it was laft affigned, in Cafe of Non-Payment, causes Protest to be made, which being returned to the laft Indorfer, he is obliged to fatisfy the laft Poffeffor, as to the Contents and Charges, and returns it in the fame Manner to the second; he to the third, &c. till at last, it recurs upon the Drawer, who is obliged to answer all Damages, as before. In the fame Manner ought Promissory Notes to be treated, they being, in the Eye of the Law, of the Nature of Inland Bills of Exchange.

But, on an Outland Bill, befides the Indorfer's Name, it is ufual to fill up the Indorsement, by appointing Payment to his Order, naming the Perfon he affigns it over to; fpecifying the Conditions and Reasons that induced him to make fuch Indorsement; as, Pay Mr R. Wor Order, Value in Accompt, S. S. And if Mr R. W fhould affign it to another; Pay Mr P. D Self, R. W

or Order, Value of himremembring always, that unlefs the Word Order be inferted, no Bill of Exchange, or Promiffory Note, is indorfible to another.

If the Acceptant of a Bill fhould chance to fail, between the Time of Acceptance, and that of Payment, Proteft may be made in that Cafe for better Security, before the Bill becomes due; not but, by the good Understanding among Dealers, the Darnages, as Brokerage, Intereft, &c. that would follow Protelt, are frequently prevented, especially if the Drawer, or any of the Indorfers, be fufficient Perfons; for any of their Correfpondents, out of Respect, may Re-accept the Bill, for Honour of the Drawer or Indorfer, if applyed to by the Poffeffor, after he has, for Security of

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the

the Re-accepter, caufed the Bill to be protested, with a Declaration, that the Bill was re-accepted for Honour of the Drawer, &c. underwriting it, Accepted for Honour of the Drawer, L. L. Or, if the Refpect was fhewn to an Indorfer; Accepted for Honour of the Indorfer, W. W. P L. L. In the fame Manner are to be served fuch Bills as are drawn upon a Person, who has not equivalent Effects of the Drawer's in his Hands, or that has not received due Advice of the Bill presented to him for Acceptance; which will entitle him to a legal Claim upon the Drawer, if he thinks he may venture, under those Circumstances, to honour his Bills.

When these Bills, accepted under Proteft, become due, it is the Custom of Merchants to have a second Protest for Nonpayment, made by the Poffeffor, with a Declaration, as before, that the Re-accepter did pay the fame with Charges, for Honour, as aforefaid; which Protefts, the Re-acceptant, for his own Security, will take Care to return, with the first Opportunity, to his Friend and Correspondent, in whofe Favour he advanced the Money.

Proteft for better Security may also be made, if the Acceptant be under an ill Repute; upon which, if he give Security for the Payment of the Bill in due Time, the Securiry becomes refponfible, as well as the Drawer, fhould the Acceptant prove infolvent.

The Ufance, or Ufage of Merchants, with refpect to Foreign Bills of Exchange, to and from London to Rotterdam, Antwerp, or any Part of the Low Countries, is one Kalendar Month after the Date of the Bill; double Ufance two Months, &c. Ufance from Hamburg, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Lubeck, Strafburg to London, and Contra, is alfo one Month; though Bills from thofe, and other diftant Places, are commonly drawn payable after Sight, because of the Uncertainty of their Arrival. Ufance from London to Lisbon or Madrid, is two Months; to Leghorn, Venice, or any Part of the Levant, is three Months, and Contra.

After Bills of Exchange become due, whether Inland or Foreign, payable at Sight or otherwife, there are, by Cuftom of Merchants, certain Days of Grace allowed the Accepter, over and above the Time prefcribed by the Bill, which are more or lefs, according to the Ufage of the

Country

"

Country wherein they are to be paid; as in Rotterdam they allow three Days; Rouen, five; Paris, ten; Hamburg, twelve; Antwerp and Madrid, fourteen; and London always three: And on the third Day before Sun-fet, Payment must be demanded on the Part of the Prefenter; and, if not complied with, the Bill muft that very Day (being the utmost Time allowed by the Law for that Purpose) be Noted, in order to be Protefted for Non-Payment.

If a Bill fall due on a Sunday, or other great Holiday, it is to be demanded and paid, or protested, the Day before. In any other Cafe, no Bill of Exchange ought to be paid by the Accepter before it is fully due, unless the Remitter shall fignify his Allowance of it in Writing. For, as the Remitter delivered his Money to the Drawer, in order to have it paid again to fuch Person as he shall direct, it is, and ought to be, in his Power to guide, and even divert the Payment, by altering the Bill, and making it payable to any other Perfon, whom he shall think fit, during the whole Interval between the Acceptance and Day of Payment. And if the Acceptant fhall voluntarily pay it before to any one, and that Perfon should fail, before it falls due, he will be liable to pay it to the Remitter's Order a fecond Time.

RECREATION X.

OUGHT Hofe in London at 4 s. 3 d. the Pair,

(129) Bo

and Sold them afterwards in Dublin at 6s. the Pair: Now, taking the Charges at an Average to be z d. the Pair, and confidering that I muft lofe 12 Cent. by remiting my Money Home again, what do I gain & Cent. by this Article of Trade?

Anfwer, 191. 10s. 11d.

(130) If the Scavenger's Rate at 1 d. in the Pound, comes to 6 s. 7 d., where they ordinarily affefs of the Rent: What will the King's Tax for that Houfe be, at 4 s. in the Pound, rated at the full Rent?

Anfwer, 131. 5 s. od.

(131) If my Factor at Leghorn return me 800 Barrels of Anchovies, each weighing 14b. Net, worth 12d. Pound,

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