The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1870-06-10
From Hearth and Home.
ABOUT PR0MISSORY-NOTES.

ABOUT PR0MISS0RY-N0TES.
The great number. of imposition
which have been praeticed upon far
mers in different parts of the country
during the few years past, by which
their signatures have been obtained to
those documents known in mercantile
law as negotiable promissary-notes, by
specious representations connected
with the sale of bogus patent-rights,
has led us to believe that few words
regarding these instruments could be
said with profit.
A negotiable prOmissOry-nOte is de-
fined as a written promise by one per-
son for the payment Of money to ano-
ther person therein named, or to his Or
der, or to the bearer, at another speci-
fled time, absolutely and at all events.
The nature of the contract requires that
it should be i'm writing. The person
signing the note on its face is the ma
ker, the one to whom it is given is the
holder or payee, and if the note is made
payable to his order, and he transfer it
to third party, by writing his name
ON the back of it, he becomes the en-
dorser; and the party to whom it is
transferred, the endorser or holder
An instrument made according to the
above definition is transferable, If pay
able to order, by endorsement-if pay
able to bearer, by delivery. The first
requisite to negotiable promissOry-
note, it will be seen, is the maker. He
is the party primarily liable upon it.
Any person capable of entering into
contracts generally may make nego-
table promissory-nOte. The contracts
of persons under twenty-one years of
age, who are denominated i'll law, in
fants, insane persons, idiots, and per-
sons under duress, are vOidable. Con-
tracts made by married women, ex-
cept i'm certain cases hereinafter men.
toned, are void. These rules OF law
apply to the parties to negotiable pro-
missOry-note is q payee. If no payee
is named, or if no person is designated,
so that there is no person specified as
payee, the note will be void.
A promise to pay a sum on demand
for value received, without saying to
whom, is mere waste paper. But If
some person is specified, as by the bear
er, it will be sufficient. In case the
note is made payable to the order of
the maker himself, or to the order of a
fictitious person, it is considered in law
as payable to bearer. The third requi-
site to negotiable promissOry-nOte is
that it must be paid in money alone
If made payable in any kind of proper
ty, it will not be a negotiable instru-
ment, although it may be valid con-
tract, which may be enforced by an ac-
ton.
A note may be made payable in mo-
ney alone, and yet contain clause
which will render it nOn-negOtiable.-
For instance, where the maker prOmi-
ses to pay q certain sum of money at q
time certain, and also to perform some
other act, the note Is not negotiable.
The last requisite to negotiable pro-
missory is that it must be made
payable absolutely at time certain
If the payment of the money be con-
tingent upon some event which may
never happen, so where a maker pro-
misses to pay a specified sum when he
shall have realized it from the proceeds
of some fund or the sale Of some article,
the note is not negotiable. But where
the payment is made to depend upon
an event which is certain to occur,
though it is uncertain at what particu-
lar time it will happen, the note is va
lid and negotiable. AnOte made paya-
BILE q certain number of days after the
death of the makers father is negOtia-
BILE, since the event is certain to occur.
A note may contain All alternative
clause as to the time payable, and be
negotiable. The following form is
sometimes used to catch the unwary:
"$lO0. Wheatfield, N. Y, Februa-
ry, I'D, 1870. For value received, l
promise to pay John Cutterbar, or bear
err, one hundred dollars six months af-
ter date, unless said sum shall be sooner
realized from the sale Of Snith's Pat
cnt CrOiUbdr. 49, s- 3. B. S."
Such an instrument is. an absolute
promise to pay a sum of money at a
time certain, and the italacised clause
has no effect upon the legality of the
instrument, and yet many farmer in
the Western counties of this State has
been humbugged by just such written
promises. The words "value received"
are usually contained in negotiable pro-
missory-notes. These words are not
absolutely essential to their vitality.
The effect of emitting them is, to throw
the burden of proving a valuable con-
sideratiOn on the holder, in case of a
trial hence it is best that every note
should contain them.
Bogus patent-right men often take a
negotiable promissory-nOte from a par.
ty on the sale of I" territory" and give
him back an agreement to the effect
that if he does not sell enough of the
patented article before the note becomes
| due, they will buy back at the same
price he gave. This might be well
enough if the original payee held the
note at its maturity. But somehow he
never does, and the maker has to pay
it when due, or be leached with costs.
A knowledge of the above rule eexplaiDs
it all. Their first object is to get the
note, and their next object to sell it be
fore it becomes due.
Another expedient this class Of men
use is to procure the signature of par
ty to blank note by representing to
him that they want his address. The
defence of forgery has been successfully
set up i'm some instances against notes
given i'm this manner. 1t is best, how
ever, to be chary of your autograph
| MncIc yOu ocC 0i tiHuS lHihtSu oDO'S
it, unless you clearly understand its
meaning, and arc willing to be bound
by it. An endorser may, by signing
his name on the back of a negotiable
promissory-note,w with the words "with-
out recourse" protect himself from any
liability OH the instrument. Unless he
uses these words, or words of the same
! import, he contracts with the holder
that, i'm case the maker fails to pay the
note when it becomes due, and he, the
endorser, is promptly notified of that
fact, he,, the endorser, will pay it.
Omission to give notice Of nOn-pay-
ment to the cndOrser releases him SO,
where q party holds an endored note,
and intends to make the endOrser LA
bic, he must give him prompt notice oi
the makers default of payment. No
tice of non-payment to an endorser
may be verbal, but for certainty of evil
.dencs, written notice is preferable.
In regard to married women's notes,
we drop a few words. BY the common
law, they were void. In most of the
States of the Union. however, statutes,
have been passed giving married wo-
men the same rights in regard to theil
separate estates that they would have
if single. A married wOman's negoti.