PREFACE. The Negotiable Instruments Law is the result of a concerted effort on the part of several State Legislatures to harmonize and make uniform the rules and principles governing the use of negotiable instruments. It is now in force in nineteen States and the District of Columbia and the Territory of Arizona, and is at present a controlling element in the commercial transactions of nearly forty millions of people in this country. It has been confidently asserted that it will soon become the law in all the States of the Union. The law has settled many disputed points and disposed of much confusion and conflict of authorities. It has, in many States, expressly overruled prevailing doctrines, and has modified or eliminated rules often enunciated by leading text-writers and the courts. In view of this fact it was planned to make this work a treatise on the law of commercial paper in all its various aspects, but especially with a view of considering and treating the rules and principles relating thereto in connection with the provisions of the Negotiable Instruments Law. In consummation of this plan we have made the sections of this law a part of the text, and have extensively elaborated thereon, and carefully and exhaustively discussed correlative and supplemental principles and doctrines. But we have not confined our research to the authorities found in the reports of the States which have adopted the act, We have attempted to cover the entire field of the law of commercial paper, citing cases from every jurisdiction and using the statutes in their proper connection. It has been our aim to make this work of general use to the working lawyer and the student. Mr. James W. Eaton, who first conceived the plan of writing this book, died before its completion. His death was a grievous personal loss to his coworker, independent of its effect upon this book. It is not fitting in this place to eulogize him; the friends that he made and the work that he did during his lifetime speak sufficiently of his greatness of heart and mind. This book would have been a better one had Mr. Eaton lived to see its completion. I have attempted to carry out his plan, and have had constantly in view his main purpose, through esteem for him and in honor of his memory. FRANK B. GILBERT. ALBANY, N. Y., February 14, 1903. |