Rensselaer Republican, Volume 16, Number 39, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 June 1884 — BUSINESS LAW IN DAILY USE. [ARTICLE]

BUSINESS LAW IN DAILY USE.

A Compilation Embracing tho Essence or a Large Amount of Legal Verbiage. If a note is lost or stolen, it does not release the maker; he most pay it, if the consideration for which it was given and the amount can be proven. Notes bear interest only when so stated. Principals are responsible for the acts of their agents. ', Each individual in a partnership is responsible for the whole amount of the debts of the firm, except in cases of special partnership. Ignorance of law excuses no one. The law compels no one to do impossibilities. An agreement without consideration is void. A note made on Sunday is void. Contract* made on Sunday cannot be enforced. A note by a minor is void. A contract made with a minor is void. A contract made with a lunatic is void. , A note obtained by fraud, or from a person in a state of intoxication, cannot be Collected. ■ - It is a frand to conceal fraud. Signatures made with a lead pencil are good in law. A receipt for money is not always conclusive. The acts of one partner bind all the rest. “Value received” is usually written in a note, and should be; but is not necessary, If not written, it is presumed by the law, or may be supplied by proof. The maker of an “accommodation” bill to note (one for which he has received no consideration, having lent his name or credit for the accommodation of the holder) is not bound to all other parties, precisely as if there was a good consideration. No consideration is sufficient in law if it be illegal in its nature. Checks or drafts must be presented for payment without unreasonable delay. Checks or drafts should be presented during business hours; but in this Country, except in the case of banks, the time extends through the day and evening. An endorsement may be written on tbe face or back. An endorser may prevent his own liability to be sued by writing “without recourse,” or similar words. All claims which do not rest upon a seal or judgment must be used within six years from the time when they arise.

Part payment of a debt which has passed the time of statutory limitation revives the whole debt, and the claim holds good for another period of six years from the date of such partial payment. A verbal promise to pay, made without conditions, is generally held as sufficient to revive a claim otherwise shut out by the law of limitation. If a debtor owe several debts, and pay a sum of money to the creditor, he has the right to designate the particular debt to "which the payment shall apply, and the creditor must so appropriate it. If the drawee of a check or draft has changed his residence, the holder must use due or reasonable diligence to find him. If one who holds a check as payee or otherwise, transfers it to anoiher, he has a right to insist that the check be presented that day, or, at furthest, on the day following. A note indorsed in blank (the name of the indorser only written) is transferable by delivery, the same as if made payable to bearer. - If the time of payment of a note is not inserted, it is held payable on demand. The time of payment of a note must not depend upon, a contingency. The promise must be absolute. A bill may be written upon any paper, or substitute for it, either with ink or pencil. The payee should be distinctly named in the note, unless it is payable to bearer. An indorsee has a right of action against all whose names were on the bill,when he received it. If the letter containing a protest of non-payment be put into the postoffice, any miscarriage does not affect the party giving notice. .a^-—-Notice of protest may be sent either to the place of business or of residence of the party notified. The holder of a note may give notice of prdtest either to all the previous indorsers or only,to one of them; in case of the latter, he must select the last indorser, and the last must give notice to the last before him, and so on. Each indorser must send notice the same day or the day following. Neither Sunday nor legal holiday is to be counted in reckoning the time in which notice is to be given. Tbe loss of a hill or note is not sufficient excuse for not giving notice of protest. If two or more persons as partners are jointly liable on a note or bill, due notice to one of them is sufficient.

If a note or bill is transferred as security, or even ns payment of a pre-ex-isting debt, the debt are vives if the bill or note be dishonored. An oral agreement must be proved by evidence. A written agreement proves itself. The law prefers written to oral evidence, because of its precision. No evidence may be introduced to contradict or vary a written contract; bnt it may be received in order to explain it, when such contract is in need of explanation. ; Written instruments are to be construed and interpreted by the law according to the simple, customary and natural meaning of the words used. The finder of negotiable paper, as of 1 all other property, must make reasonable efforts, to find the owner, before he is entitled to Appropriate it for bis own purposes. If the finder conceal it, he in liable to the charge of larceny or theft Joint payees of a bill or note, who are not partners, must all join in, an indorsement. V- j One may make a note payable to his own order and indorse it in bank. He must then write his name upon its bac^c

or across its face, the same as any other indorser. After the death of a holder of a bill or note, his executor or administrator may transfer it by his indorsement. The husband who acquires a right to a bill or note which was given to the wife either before or after marriage, may indorse it. Acceptance applies to bills and not to notes! It is an engagement on the part of the person on whom the bill is drawn to pay it according to its tenor. The usual way is to write across the face of the bill the word “accepted.”— Exchange.