Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1890-09-25
THE law AS TO CHECKS.
THE EXTENT OF THE GUARANTY
GIVEN BY cERTIFIcATioN.
Liability of Bank to the Innocent
Holder Of False Check 1t Has De-
elared Good-GeneraI Rules as to Ger
tificati0n.

clared Good-GeneraI Rules as to Ger
tification.
A. very important question for the
holder of certified check is, whether by
certifcation bank guarantees the paw
ment Of the check whenever presented, or
simply certifies the amount of the check
is to the credit of the drawer in the bank
at the time it is presented but reserves
the right to stop payment on the order Of
the drawer at any time before actual
payment.
The answer to this inquiry is, as a gen
eral rule, that when bank certifes a
check it charges the amount to the de-
positor precisely as if it had been paid,
and thereupon is bound to pay it on pre-
sentation to the holder, although it may
have received an order in the meantime
to stop payment.
A bank is not obliged to certify a
check at all, and it does so simply as a
matter Of courtesy and accommodation
to the holder, who may prefer certifica-
ton to payment at that time It would
follow, therefore, that in granting such
accommodation the bank may insist
upon any condition it chooses to pre-
scribe, and if the holder declines the
condition the bank may decline to certify.
Some banks require the Endorsement
of the payee before certification in the
same manner as they would require his
Endorsement before payment The bank
undoubtedly has right to insist upon
Endorsement before payment where the
check is drawn to a particular person,
and as certification by a solvent bank is
equivalent to payment, the same reason
applies in favor Of Endorsement in the
one case as in the other.
A curious anomaly exists in the law as
TO the liability of the bank towards the
holder Of a certified check which, after
being drawn and before being certified.
has been altered The courts have held
that the bank is liable to the innocent
holder Of forged check which it has
certified, but that it is not liable for a
check that has been altered, the reason
given being that by certification the
bank guarantees the authenticity of the
ttldN Cl . olEildIulCs Dbl ilDJ lUE
ness of the amount of the check; and in
one case it was held, where check was
given for $25 and after b ing raised to
s., 500 was certified by the bank, the in
nocent holder of the check could only re-
cover the amount for which it was orig
inaliy drawn; but if the check had been
forged absolutely and the bank had GER
titled it after forgery, an innocent holder
could have recovered the full amount.
The OverEorked Supreme Court.
The supreme court of the United States
now has ], $50 cases on the docket. The
court disposes of 400 a year. But $50
were added during the last year. -Four
years hence, when the present calendar
is disposed of, there viii be 1000 cases
awaiting decision 1t has been some-
times intimated that the judges do not
work 50 hard as they might, but this is
answered by the fact that they decide
400 causes a year, which, considering the
difficult and serious character of most of
the causes, is a large years work. Some
information recently given by Mr.. JUS
tice Miller rs to the mode Of deciding
causes in this court is interesting. He
says: "The whole court investigates
each case, and the justices vote upon it
to reach decision
The whole court works as a team, and
as Mr.. Justice Miller puts it, the whole
court can only go as fast as the slowest.
He said that the court had resorted to
one reform after another to expedite
business, but still was falling steadily
behind. The hours allowed for argu-
ment have been cut from eight TO four.
All briefs and transcripts are required
to be in print. so as to facilitate results.
Mr.. Justice Miller saws '.there is no
body of public servants which put in as
many hours Of work as do tho justices. 2
We understand that instead of first as
signing the cause to particular judge
towrite the opinion, and then consulting
and voting upon the opinion, every judge
first examines the case, then all consult
and vote. and then one is assigned IL
write the opinion expressing the decision.
We understand also that the old practice
Of reading all the opinions aloud to the
whole bench has been discontinued.
If the judges We're relieved from the
duty of going on circait and lower court
Of appeal established the arrears would
soon be worked off.