S. 17. bind the granter to indemnify any person who in reliance on the promise gives value for the bill, but it is not an acceptance.1 S. 18. Time for acceptance. 3. Signed. See s. 3, n. 6, No. 5. 4. By the drawee.-See s. 3, n. b, No. 4, s. 6, s. 56 n.a 5. For money. See s. 3, n. b, No. 6. * This provision is omitted from the American Negotiable Instruments Law.2 18. A bill may be accepted (1.) Before it has been signed by the drawer, or while otherwise incomplete: a d с (2.) When it is overdue," or after it has been dis- a As to the liabilities of the acceptor of a blank bill, see section 20. Though the acceptor dies before the bill is completed, his acceptance remains good. A foreign bill may be presented for acceptance, and accepted, before being stamped.* b See ss. 14 and 45 (2). An undated acceptance is presumed to have been granted within a reasonable time after the date of the bill and before its maturity.5 c See ss. 42 and 43. d See s. 47. e If the acceptance be not dated, the holder is entitled to fill in the date of the first presentment.6 Shepherd v. Campbells, Frazer, and Co., 1823, 2 S. 346, (n.e. 304); 1 Bell's Com. 422; Bell's Prin. 315; see Byles, 260, cases on letters of credit, p. 239, infra. 2 S. 220; see s. 72, n.a 8 Carter v. White, 1882, 20 Ch.D. 225; affd. 1883, 25 Ch.D. 666. 4 54 and 55 Vict. c. 39, s. 35 (1)., p. 267, infra. 5 Roberts v. Bethell, 1852, 12 C.B. 778; see 2 Bell's Com. 173; Thomson, 437. 6 S. 12; see s. 39 (1). 19. (1.) An acceptance is either (a) general or (b) S. 19. qualified. General and (2.) A general acceptance assents without quali-qceptances. fication to the order of the drawer.a A qualified acceptance in express terms varies the effect of the bill as drawn.b In particular an acceptance is qualified which is— (a.) conditional, that is to say, which makes payment by the acceptor dependent on the fulfilment of a condition therein stated: " (b.) partial, that is to say, an acceptance to pay (c.) local, that is to say, an acceptance to pay only An acceptance to pay at a particular place is a that the bill is to be paid there only and not (d.) qualified as to time:f (e.) the acceptance of some one or more of the a As to the effect of a general acceptance see ss. 52 (1), 54. The acceptance will be taken to be general if it does not clearly appear to be qualified. Words of qualification "must be incorporated in the acceptance, or at least so connected with the acceptance as clearly to form part of it; and must also be such as to indicate clearly and unequivocally the nature of the restrictions which they are meant to introduce."1 In the case of Decroix v. Meyer, it was held that the words, "in favour of A. B. only, No. 28," written across the face of a bill above the words, "Accepted payable at Alliance Bank, London, for H. Meyer & Co., Limited," were to be regarded simply as a memorandum, and that the acceptance was general. 1 Decroix v. Meyer, 1890, 25 Q.B.D. 343; affd. [1891] A.C. 520, per Lord Watson, 525; Rowe v. Young, 1820, 2 Bligh, 391, per Lord Eldon, 402; S. 19. b A qualified acceptance may vary the effect of the bill in almost any way, but it must not promise performance by any other means than the payment of money,2 and it must not engage for payment of a larger sum than the one in the bill, for that would make a new contract under the Stamp Act. It may be in favour only of some one or more of the parties to the bill. The addition of the words “as cautioner " does not qualify the acceptance; it can only affect the question of relief.5 The acceptor cannot in a question with a holder in due course avail himself of a qualification which does not appear in the bill.7 The holder need not take a qualified acceptance. If he does take a qualified acceptance, other than a partial acceptance, without the concurrence of prior parties, they are discharged.8 c As to qualifications requiring presentment to the acceptor, see s. 52 (2). As a conditional acceptance cannot be enforced without proof that the condition has been fulfilled, it cannot be a warrant for summary diligence.9 d Due notice of a partial acceptance must be given, and if the bill is a foreign bill, it must be protested as to the balance 10 11 • This provision in substance re-enacts that of the Statute 1 and 2 Geo. IV. c. 78, which is repealed by this Act.11 It does not apply to promissory notes. 12 According to the construction placed on the earlier statute, any taxative expression-for example, "only" or "and not elsewhere "—will make the acceptance special.13 If a place of payment is specified without taxative words, the bill must be presented at that place in order to preserve recourse,14 but as the acceptance is general, the acceptor is liable without any presentment.14 15 f If the acceptance of a bill payable after sight be post- S. 19. dated or ante-dated, the drawer and prior endorsers will be discharged in a question with the person who takes such an acceptance, but not with a holder in due course.1 с e 20. (1.) Where a simple signature on a blank S. 20. stamped paper a is delivered by the signer in order Inchoate that it may be converted into a bill," it operates as a instruments. prima facie authority to fill it up as a complete bill a for any amount the stamp will cover, using the signature for that of the drawer, or the acceptor, or an indorser; and in like manner, when a bill is wanting in any material particular, the person in possession of it has a prima facie authority to fill up the omission in any way he thinks fit.j (2.) In order that any such instrument when completed may be enforceable against any person who became a party thereto prior to its completion it a must be filled up within a reasonable time, and strictly in accordance with the authority given. Reasonable time for this purpose is a question of fact.1 Provided that if any such instrument after completion is negotiated to a holder in due course it shall be valid and effectual for all purposes in his hands, and he may enforce it as if it had been filled up within a reasonable time and strictly in accordance with the authority given.m a Special impressed stamps are appropriated to bills of exchange drawn in the United Kingdom, and special adhesive stamps to those drawn or purporting to be drawn out of the United Kingdom; but the duty on any bill payable on demand may be denoted by a penny postage stamp.2 The wording of this section leaves it doubtful, whether the first part is applicable only to signatures written on paper 1 Thorburn, 53. 2 54 and 55 Vict., c. 39, ss. 2, 10 34, 36, p. 262, infra, S. 20. impressed with a bill stamp, or extends also to signatures over a penny adhesive stamp, and whether the requirement of stamped paper expressed in the first part should govern the second. In view of the older cases and of section 97 (2), it is thought that the second part is applicable to foreign bills, and therefore also to inland bills payable on demand. But there is no authority on the construction of the sub-section.1 b The paper bearing the signature must be delivered in order to be made into a bill. It appears that the burden of proving that the signed paper was not delivered in order to be made into a bill should rest upon the person bound ex facie of the bill.2 It has been held that if an incomplete bill is not delivered, but is lost by the person whose signature it bears, or stolen from him, and thereafter is converted into a bill, that person will not be liable even to a holder in due course. By section 21 (2) it is enacted without reservation, that if a bill is in the hands of a holder in due course, a valid delivery by all prior parties is to be conclusively presumed. But it has not yet been decided whether this enactment has the effect of setting aside the decision in Baxendale v. Bennett. If a signature is fraudulently used for a purpose for which it was never intended, that is a forgery.4 c This authority is obviously in favour of the person in possession. It is not revoked by the death of the granter. 'It is not by an authority, but by a contract between the acceptor and the intended drawer, that the drawer has a right to fill up the instrument and make it a complete bill: "5 that is to say, this authority is a procuratory in rem suam. But authority to fill up an incomplete bill, at least if granted by the acceptor for the accommodation of the granter, falls 1 Crutchly v. Mann, 1814, 5 Taunt. 529; Barker v. Sterne, 1854, 9 Exch. 684, 23 L.J. Ex. 201; see Chalmers, 53. 2 See Anderson v. Somerville, Murray, and Co., 1898, 1 F. 90, 95 and Baxendale v. Bennett, infra, 530. 3 Baxendale v. Bennett, 1878, 3 Q.B.D. 525; see as to responsibility for negligence, s. 59, n.d 4 See s. 24, n.b and Scholfield v. Londesborough, [1896], A.C. 514, per Lord Watson, 538; Clutton and Co. v. Attenborough [1897], A.C. 90, per Halsbury, L.C., 93; Byles, 259. 5 Carter v. White, 1882, 20 Ch.D. 225; affd. 1883, 25 Ch.D. 666, per Fry, L.J., 672, |