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3 & 4 Ann.

c. 9. s. 6.

Sect. 7.

Sect. 8.

Sect. 9.

interest, unless protest be made for non-acceptance, and, within fourteen days after protest, the same be sent, or notice thereof given, to the party from whom such bill was received, or left in writing at his usual place of abode And if such bill be açcepted, and not paid within three days after due, no drawer shall pay costs, damages, or interest thereon, unless protest be made and sent, or notice given as aforesaid; nevertheless the drawer shall be liable to payment of costs, damages and interest, if any one protest be made for non-acceptance, or non-payment, and notice be sent, given, or left.

No such protest shall be necessary for non-payment, unless the value be expressed in such a bill, to be received, and unless the bill be drawn for 201. or upwards, and the protest shall be made for non-acceptance by persons appointed per 9 Will. 3. cap. 17.

If any person accept such bill of exchange in satisfaction of any former debt, the same shall be esteemed a full payment, if he doth not use his endeavour to get the same accepted and paid, and make his protest for non-acceptance or non-payment.

Nothing herein shall discharge any remedy that any person may have against the drawer, acceptor, or indorser of such bill.

This act shall continue for three years.
Made perpetual by 7 Ann. cap. 25.

Stat. 15 Geo. 3. chap. 51. After reciting, that various notes, bills of exchange, and draughts for money for very small sums, had for some time past been circulated or negociated in lieu of cash, in England, to the great prejudice of trade and public credit; and many of such bills and draughts being payable under certain terms and restrictions, which the poorer sort of manufacturers, artificers, labourers, and others could not comply with, without being subject to great extortion and abuse, enacts

Sect. 1. That all notes, bills, draughts, or undertakings being negotiable for payment of any money, less than 20 shillings, shall be void.

Sect. 2. If any person, by any means whatever, publish or negotiate any such notes, &c. or on which less than 20s. shall be due, he shall pay 201. or not less than 51. Stat. 17 Geo. 3. chap. 30. After reciting the above act of 15 Geo. 3. chap. 51. and that the same had been attended with very salutary effects; and that in case the provisions thereof were extended to a farther sum, the good purposes of it would be further advanced, enacts—

Sect. 1. That all notes, &c. negotiable for 20s. or above, and less than 51. that shall remain undischarged, and made within England, after 1 Jan. 1778, shall specify the names and places of abode of the respective persons, to whom, or to whose order, the same shall be made payable, and shall be dated before, or when drawn, and not on any subsequent day, and be payable within 21 days after their date, and not negotiable after the time of payment; and every indorsement shall be before time of payment, and be dated at, or not before the time of making thereof; and shall specify the name and place of abode of the person to whom, or to whose order, the money is to be paid; and that the signing of every such note, &c. and indorsement shall be attested by a witness, and drawn as follows:

Leeds, 20 Nov. 1777. Twenty days after date, I promise to pay James Hatley, of Fleet-street, London, hosier, or his order, the sum of four pounds ten shillings, for value received by

£. 4 10 0.

Witness

Richard Bunn.

And the indorsement toties quoties.

Charles Jebb.

Norwich, 31 May, 1778.

Twenty-one days after date, pay to John Trott, of Fetter-lane, London, or his order, the sum of two pounds and two shillings, value received, as advised by

William Holt.

To Matthew Wilks, of Shoreditch, in the county of Middlesex.
Witness
Mary Munt.

And the indorsement toties quoties.

15 March, 1777.

John Trott.

Pay the contents to Benjamin Hopkins, of Guildhall, London, or his order.
Witness

Cristopher Cowper.

And that all notes, &c. as before, or in which 20s. or above, and less than 51. shall be undischarged, and issued within England, at the time aforesaid, in any other manner, and also every indorsement shall be void.

Sect. 2. Publishing or negociating in England, any note, &c. of or under the above value, made in any other manner than hereby permitted; and also negociating such last mentioned note, &c. after the time aforesaid, is prohibited under the like penalties and forfeitures, and to be recovered and applied as by 15 Geo. 3. chap. 51. sect. 3, &c. is directed.*

Sect. 2. That all notes, &c. issued before 1 Jan. 1778, to be payable within England on demand; and recoverable as directed by the act with respect to notes, &c. issued before 24 June, 1775, and all matters contained in 15 Geo. 3. are to be in force in England as to notes, &c. issued after 1 Jan. 1778, and previous thereto.

Sect. 3. Both acts are to continue not only for the residue of five years, in the former act, but also for the further time of five years.

OF BILLS OF EXCHANGE; AND CONCERNING THE CROSS ONES OF EUROPE, KNOWN TO FOREIGNERS UNDER THE DENOMINATION OF ARBITRATIONS OF EXCHANGE.

THE original traffic of mankind, by way of barter, becoming troublesome, necessity led them to the invention of some more easy manner of continuing their commerce; and nothing being found so commodious a medium as money, this was many ages since adopted to carry on their commercial transactions, first by the Hebrews, then by the Romans, and since continued and improved by almost every civilized nation; and for the still greater conveniency of foreign trade, they made coins of the most valuable metals, that might answer the intention of an easy carriage, by being less bulky and heavy than baser ones; and this method being generally approved of and practised by most trading people, they by degrees fell into an improvement even of this, and substituted remittances and exchanges by bills, to save the expence, risk, and trouble, which the transport of money from one kingdom to another occasioned. The Jews, banished France in the reigns of Philip August and Philip le Long, are supposed by some to have been the original inventors of it: whilst others, with greater appearance of probability, assign the contrivance to the Gibelins, on their being expelled Italy by the factions of the Guelphs; though the motives given for both are the same, viz. their

* Which is by summary proceeding before a justice of peace.

endeavours to withdraw their absconded effects with the secrecy necessary to prevent their confiscation; and to this purpose they give bills on their private friends to foreign merchants on the sums agreed on, and these were regulated by the different value of the coins exchanged; and as many of these bills came back unpaid, it gave birth to the charge of re-exchange, first begun by the aforesaid Lombards, and these, after different modifications, fixed it into a branch of business. They retired, on their first expulsion from Italy, to Lyons in France, and from thence spread themselves into many other trading cities of that, and other kingdoms of Europe; and there is still a street in Paris bearing their name, from its having been a quarter where the greatest part of them resided, for carrying on their banking business; and it is owing to the same reason, and to perpetuate the memory of the great business exercised there by these people, and by them taught to the Dutch, that the place where the Exchange stands at Amsterdam was at first, and still continues to be, called after them, as does a street in London from the same motive, so that it was these people who first sowed the seeds of these negociations in the minds of the Belgick merchants, who duly cultivated and spread them all over Europe for the easier conducting mercantile affairs, and at the same time to prevent the exportation of their current coin in lieu of these paper ones, if I may so term them; and this was found so beneficial and advantageous to trading kingdoms as to merit and engage the protection of several princes for its encouragement and increase; among which some of our former kings made several regulations concerning it; Edward III. caused certain tables to be set up at Dover and other parts of the realm, declaring the value of the sundry species of coins current in the countries trading with his subjects, and the allowance merchants were to give to be accommodated with remittances; as may be seen in the many good laws of his reign. These tables and exchanges were subject to the direction of the King's Mint-Master, who made them par pro pari, or value for value, with a reasonable allowance to those who were appointed to interfere as exchangers, for their trouble; and many acts have been passed since by succeeding princes concerning them.

But as commerce varied, so did exchanges, though they were generally reduced to four, viz. cambio commune, cambio real, cambio sicco, and cambio fictitio.

Cambio commune, in England, was that which was constituted by the several kings, who having received monies in England, would remit by exchange the like sums to be paid in another kingdom, according to the regulation of the above-mentioned tables.

Cambio real, was when monies were paid to the exchanger, and bills were drawn without naming the species, but according to the value of the several coins, and indeed was no more than the payment of money in England with a proviso to be repaid the just value in specie in another country, according to the price agreed on between the exchanger and deliverer, to allow or pay for the exchange of the money and the loss of time.

Cambio sicco, or dry exchange, is when a merchant hath occasion for 5001. for a certain time, and would willingly pay interest for the same, but the usurious lender being desirous to take more than the statute allows, and yet willing to avoid its penalty, offers the 5001. by exchange for Cadiz, whereunto the merchant agrees; but having no correspondence there, the lender desires him to draw his bill on the said place, payable at double or treble usance, by any feigned person, as the exchange shall then govern, with which the merchant complies; and on receipt of the bill, the banker pays the money, and remits the bill to some friend of his at Cadiz to procure a protest there for non-exceptance, the charge of which with the exchange and interest, the merchant is to pay his creditor; and these expences formerly were very considerable.

Cambio fictitio, is when a merchant hath occasion for goods, but cannot well spare money for their payment; and the owner of them, to secure his advantage, and avoid

the penalty of the law, acts as the usurer in the former case, and obliges the buyer to defray the expences of re-exchange, &c.

These two last methods of raising money for the necessitous were prohibited by a act of parliament in the 3d and 4th of Henry VII. but on account of the base momies coined by Henry VIII. at the siege of Bologne, exchanges were discontinued, and the aforesaid pressures and abuses became again current in the reign of Edward VI. which occasioned all exchanges to be prohibited for a short time, but this being found of great inconvenience and detriment to trade, it was again restored; though almost quite neglected, and the illegal part of it connived at in the succeeding reign of Queen Mary.

The just and true exchange for monies that is at this day used both in England and other countries, by bills, is par pro pari, or value for value; so that the English exchange, being grounded on the weight and fineness of our own money, and the weight and fineness of those of each other country according to their several standards, proportionable in their valuation, which being truly and justly made, ascertains and reduces the price of exchange to a sum certain for the exchange of monies to any nation or country whatsoever.

As money is the common measure of things between man and man within the realm, so is exchange between merchant and merchant within and without the realm, the which is properly made by bills, when money is delivered simply in England, and bills received for the re-payment of the same in some other country either within or without the realm, at a price certain, and agreed upon between the merchant and the deliverer; for there is not at this day any peculiar or proper money to be found in specie whereupon outland exchanges can be grounded, therefore all foreign coins are called imaginary.

Having thus far premised and shown the original and nature of exchanges, I shall descend to particulars, and endeavour, in the clearest manner I can, to inform my reader of every circumstance necessary to be known in the circulation of bills; and of all steps to be taken towards their recovery; of their form, current courses, and the laws concerning them, both here and in every other part of Europe; that this nice branch of commerce may be rendered more intelligible, and be better understood than it commonly is, or can be, except duly explained. As customs in their formation, times of running, and falling due, days of grace, &c. are almost as various as each European nation is from another; and as I consider this to be the most intricate part of mercantile literature, I shall be as extensive in my sentiments and quotations about it as the nature of the thing requires, without fearing the censure of my readers for prolixity, which however I shall endeavour to avoid incurring, and be as concise as my capacity will permit, without curtailing what is necessary to be said on so important a subject.

Map of

Marius'a

A bill of exchange is commonly drawn on a small piece of paper, and comprised in Roberts's two or three lines, being so noble and excellent, that though it cannot properly, as is Merchant's conceived, be called a speciality, because it wanteth those formalities, which by the Commerce. common law of England are thereunto required, as seal, delivery, and witnesses; yet it is equivalent thereunto, if not beyond, or exceeding any speciality or bond in its punc- page 3. tuality and precise payment; for if once accepted, it must be paid when due, otherwise the acceptor loses his credit.

There are ordinarily four persons requisite in making an exchange, besides the broker, viz. two at the place where the money is taken up, and two where it is payable; as 1st, the deliverer, giver, remitter, or negociator, being the person who delivers the money-2dly, the taker, or drawer, who receives or takes up the money by exchange3dly, the party who is to pay the money in virtue of the bill drawn on him, commonly termed the acceptant-4ly, the person to whom the bill is made payable, and is to receive it, called the possessor or holder of it.

VOL. I.

4 C

Advice,

Marius's

Advice,

page 4,

and 5,

But sometimes only three are concerned in an exchange, viz. the drawer, the deliverer, who has the bill made payable to himself or order, and value of him, and the party that is to pay it, the deliverer carrying it himself and receiving it.

There is likewise another way, wherein only three are necessary, as 1st, the drawer, 2dly, the party on whom it is drawn, and 3dly, he to whom it is payable; for the drawer having money in his hands belonging to the person in whose favour the bill is drawn, confesses value received in his own hands, and charges it to his friend or factor, payable to his creditor.

And there is yet one way more, wherein monies may be remitted only with the intervention of three persons, 1st, the taker, 2dly, the deliverer, and 3dly, the party to whom payable, as thus: If I was at Exon, and intended for London, I would take up money there, and give bills of exchange for the same, drawn on myself, payable to whom the deliverer should appoint in town.

Money may likewise be exchanged between two persons only, viz. the drawer, and he on whom it is drawn; the drawer making a bill of exchange payable to himself or order for value in himself, subscribes the bill, and directs it to the party that owes him money, and is to pay it by exchange; by which bill, when he on whom it is drawn hath accepted it, he becometh debtor to the drawer, and this latter, before the bill falls due, doth negociate it with another man, and by this means draws the money in at the place of his residence, and makes only an assignment on the bill, payable to him of whom he hath received the value.

All these methods of exchanges are termed real exchange, and some or all of them will naturally occur to a man in business; therefore the better to conduct my reader to a perfect understanding of them, he ought to be acquainted, that as the monies and species of almost every nation differ, not only in their current prices, but in their intrinsic value, there is a just and certain par established between them, according to the real and effective worth of each species, without any regard had to their currency in the countries where they are coined; and the par is by some authors supposed to be of two sorts, viz. the one of the real monies, and the other of exchanges, or imaginary species, though both seem to be the same thing, as having a necessary dependence upon each other.

By the par of real monies is to be understood, the equality of the intrinsic value of the real species of any country with those of another; and by that of exchanges, the proportion that the imaginary monies of any country bear to those of another. So that the rise and fall of an exchange must be attributed either to the current price of the coins of any country, or to an extraordinary demand in one place for money in another, or sometimes it is owing to both; and I think it may easily be proved from the very etymology of the word exchange, that the variation of the current coins or monies of any country in a manner constitutes and gives it being, at least has a very great influence on it, as it is only, according to the aforesaid definition, a bartering or exchanging the money of one kingdom with that of another, which is always effected by the intervention of two or three lines of writing on a slip of paper, as I have mentioned before; and I shall now proceed to show what the obligation of every one is who may be con

cerned in it.

And 1st, of the drawer, who in treating about, or negociating a bill of exchange, must have a strict regard to his credit, and never give his draughts at an under-exchange, as this is a certain indication of his want both of cash and credit, though without an impeachment of either he may do his business, although something under the very height of the course, as this cannot always be obtained by every one, therefore when a drawer is not notoriously under the mark, he will transaet his affairs with reputation; and it his sole view in drawing proceeds from a prospect of advantage, without

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