to the bearer at large. These, by statute 3 & 4 Ann. c. 9. are made assignable and indorsable in like manner as bills of exchange. But, by statute 15 Geo. III. c. 51. all promissory or other notes, bills of exchange, drafts, and undertakings in writing, being negotiable or transferable, for the payment of less than twenty shillings, are declared to be null and void: and it is made penal to utter or publish any such; they being deemed prejudicial to trade and public credit. And by 17 Geo. III. c. 30. all such notes, bills, drafts, and undertakings, to the amount of twenty shillings and less than five pounds, are subjected to many other regulations and formalities; the omission of any one of which vacates the security, and is penal to him that utters it.

The payee, either of a bill of exchange or promissory note, has clearly a property vested in him (not indeed in possession but in action) by the express contract of the drawer in the case of a promissory note, and, in the case of a bill of exchange, by his implied contract, viz. that, provided the drawee will not pay the bill, the drawer will. And this property, so vested, may be transferred and assigned from the payee to any other man, by indorsement, or writing his name in dorso or on the back of it; and he may assign the same to another, and so on in infinitum. And a promissory note, payable to A or hearer, is negotiable without any indorsement, and payment thereof may be demanded by any bearer of it. But, in case of a bill of exchange, the payee or

the indorsee, (whether it be a general or particular indorsement) is to go to the drawee, and offer his bill for acceptance, which acceptance (so as to charge the drawer with costs) must be in writing, under or on the back of the bill. If the drawee accepts the bill, either verbally or then makes himself liable to pay it. refuses to accept the bill, and it be of the value of L. 20. or upwards, and expressed to be for value received, the payee or indorsee may protest it for non-acceptance and notice of such protest must, within fourteen days after, be given to the drawer.

in writing, he If the drawee

But, in case such bill be accepted by the drawee, and after acceptance he fails or refuses to pay it within three days after it becomes due, (which three days are called days of grace) the payee or indorsee is then to get it protested for non-payment, and such protest must also be notified, within fourteen days after, to the drawer. And he, on producing such protest, either of non-acceptance or non-payment, is bound to make good to the payee, or indorsee, not only the amount of the said bills, but also interest and all charges, to be computed from the time of making such protest.

If the bill be an indorsed bill, and the indorsee cannot get the drawee to discharge it, he may call upon either the drawer or the indorser, or if the bill has been negotiated through many hands, upon any of the indorsers. And if such indorser so called upon, has the names of one or more indorsers prior to his own, to each of whom he is proderly an indorsee, he is also at liberty to call upon

any of them to make him satisfaction; and so upwards. But the first indorser has nobody to resort to, but the drawer only.

What has been said of bills of exchange is applicable also to promissory notes, that are indorsed over, and negociated from one hand to another: only that, in this case, as there is no drawee, there can be no protest for non-acceptance; or rather the law considers a promissory note in the light of a bill drawn by a man himself, and accepted at the time of drawing. And, in case of non-payment by the drawer, the several indorsees of a promissory note have the same remedy, as upon bills of exchange, against the prior indorsers.

CHAPTER XXXI.

OF TITLE BY BANKRUPTCY.

THE preceding chapter having treated of the acquisition of personal property by several commercial methods, we thence shall be easily led to take into our present consideration a tenth method of transferring property, which is that of

X. Bankruptcy; a title which we before lightly touched upon; so far as it related to the transfer of the real estate of the bankrupt. Let us therefore first of all consider, 1. Who may become a bankrupt. 2. What acts make a bankrupt. 3. The proceedings on a commission of bankrupt :

and, 4. In what manner an estate in goods and chattels may be transferred by bankruptcy.

A bankrupt was before defined to be "a trader, who secretes himself, or does certain other acts, tending to defraud his creditors." The laws of bankruptcy are considered as laws calculated for the benefit of trade, and founded on the principles of humanity as well as justice; and to that end they confer some privileges, not only on the creditors, but also on the bankrupt or debtor himself. On the creditors; by compelling the bankrupt to give up all his effects to their use, without any fraudulent concealment: on the debtor; by exempting him from the rigour of the general law, whereby his person might be confined at the discretion of his creditor, though in reality he has nothing to satisfy the debt.

The first statute made concerning any English bankrupts, was Hen. VIII. c. 4. when trade began first to be properly cultivated in England, which has been almost totally altered. By statute 13 Eliz. c. 7. bankruptcy is confined to such persons only as have used the trade of merchandize, in gross or by retail, by way of bargaining, exchange, rechange, bartering, chevisance, or otherwise; or have sought their living by buying and selling. And, by statute 21 Jac. I. c. 19. persons using the trade or profession of a scrivener, receiving other men's monies and estates into their trust and custody, are also made liable to the statutes of bankruptcy : and the benefits, as well as the penal parts of the

law, are extended as well to aliens and denizens as as to natural-born subjects. Lastly, by statute 5 Geo. II. c. 30. bankers, brokers, and factors, are declared liable to the statutes of bankruptcy. But, by the same act, no farmer, grazier, or drover, shall (as such) be liable to be deemed a bankrupt; also, a receiver of the king's taxes is not capable, as such, of being a bankrupt. By the same statute, no person shall have a commission of bankrupt awarded against him, unless at the petition of some one creditor, to whom he owes L. 100.; or of two, to whom he is indebted L. 150.; or of more, to whom altogether he is indebted L.200.

In the interpretation of these several statutes it hath been held, that buying only, or selling only, will not qualify a man to be a bankrupt; but it must be both buying and selling, and also getting a livelihood by it. As, by exercising the calling of a merchant, a grocer, a mercer, or, in one general word, a chapman, who is one that buys and sells any thing. No handicraft occupation (where nothing is bought and sold, and where therefore an extensive credit, for the stock in trade, is not necessary to be had) will make a man a regular bankrupt; as that of a husbandman, a gardener, and the like. Also an inn-keeper cannot, as such, be a bankrupt. But where persons buy goods, and make them up into saleable commodities, as shoemakers, smiths, and the like; here, though part of the gain is by bodily labour, and not by buying and selling, yet they are within the statute of