Bills of exchange are written orders or requests from one party to another for the payment of money to a third person or his order, on account of the drawer, and, if payable at sight or at a date subsequent to the acceptance by the drawee, the instrument must be duly presented for payment, else the parties to the same conditionally liable for the payment of the amount will be discharged. Different rules prevail as to the place where the presentment for payment must be made, dependent upon the form of the instrument and the place where and the terms in which it was accepted.
Such an instrument must first be accepted; and if when presented for that purpose the drawee refuses to accept the same, it must, if it is a foreign bill, be protested for non-acceptance, the rule being that the place of protest is the place where the same is required to be presented for acceptance, unless it is in terms payable at some other place. Due presentment for payment must also be made, the general rule being that the place of payment is the place where the acceptor resides, or where on the face of the bill it is addressed to him, unless some other place is specifically designated in the instrument. Story, Bills, sects. 48, 282.
Sufficient appears to show that the subject-matter of the present controversy is a bill of exchange drawn by the defendant first named, the address to the drawees being 'Messrs. Cox & Cowan, New York, N. Y.,' for the sum of $5,000, payable eighty days from date, value received, and the indorsement on the face of the bill is as follows: 'Accepted. Cox & Cowan.'
That the bill was duly presented for acceptance, and that it was accepted by the drawees in the manner described, is admitted; nor is it denied that it was duly indorsed by the payee, nor that the plaintiff bank became the bona fide holder of the bill by virtue of the second indorsement exhibited in the record.
Payment of the bill at maturity being refused, the plaintiff bank, as the lawful holder of the same, caused it to be protested, and instituted the present action against the drawer, the acceptors, and the payee as the first indorser, to recover the amount. Process was served, and the drawer and indorser appeared and filed separate answers.
Though the answers are separate, yet the material defences in each are the same, and may be considered together. They are as follows: 1. That the bill was not duly presented to the acceptors for payment. 2. That it was not duly protested for non-payment. 3. That due notice was never given to the drawer of the dishonor of the bill or of the failure of the acceptors to pay the same at maturity.
Amended answers having subsequently been filed by the same parties, they went to trial, and the verdict and judgment were in favor of the plaintiff bank against the drawer, acceptors, and indorser for the amount specified in the transcript. Exceptions were filed by the defendants, and they sued out the present writ of error.
Since the cause was entered here, the defendants have assigned for error the following causes: 1. That the Circuit Court erred in instructing the jury that the bill, being addressed to the drawees, 'New York, N. Y.,' is in law payable in New York City. 2. That the Circuit Court erred in refusing to instruct the jury that the acceptance of the bill, as shown in the transcript, was a general acceptance, which made the bill payable at no particular place. 3. That the Circuit Court erred in refusing to instruct the jury that, in order to charge the defendants, the officers of the plaintiff bank, if they knew at the maturity of the bill where the residence and place of business of the acceptors were, as stated in the answers, must show that the bill was presented and that payment was demanded at their residence or place of business. 4. That the Circuit Court erred in instructing the jury that if the notary made reasonable and diligent inquiry for the acceptors and their place of business in the city of New York, and could not find either their residence or place of business, and that he then demanded payment during business hours at the place or places frequented by them when in said city, that such a demand was a sufficient presentment to maintain the action.