the faid Bill fhall become due and payable, then no Drawer of fuch Bill fhall be compellable to pay any Cofts, Damages, or Interest thereupon, unless a Proteft be made and fent, or • Notice thereof be given in Manner and Form ⚫ above-mentioned; neverthelefs, every Drawer of fuch Bill fhall be liable to make Payment of Cofts, Damages, and Intereft, upon fuch • Inland Bill, if any one Protest shall be made ⚫ for Non-acceptance, or Non-payment thereof, • and Notice thereof be fent, given, or left, as • aforefaid.

6.

Provided, That no fuch Proteft fhall be neceffary, either for Non-acceptance, or Nonpayment of any Inland Bill of Exchange, unless the Value be acknowledged, and expreffed in fuch Bill to be received, and unless fuch Bill ⚫ fhall be drawn for Twenty Pounds Sterling, or upwards; and that the Protest hereby required. for Non-acceptance, fhall be made by fuch Perfons as are appointed by the faid recited Act to protest Inland Bills of Exchange for Non* payment thereof.

And be it further enacted, That from and • after the faid first Day of May, if any Perfon ⚫ doth accept any fuch Bill of Exchange for, and in Satisfaction of any former Debt, or Sum of Money formerly due unto him, the fame fhall ⚫ be accounted and efteemed a full and compleat Payment of fuch Debt, if fuch Perfon, accept*ing any fuch Bill for his Debt, doth not take his due Course to obtain Payment thereof, by en⚫deavouring to get the fame accepted and paid,

and

and make Proteft, as aforefaid, either for Nonacceptance, or Non-Payment thereof.

Provided, That nothing herein contained ⚫ fhall extend to discharge any Remedy that any • Perfon may have against the Drawer, Acceptor, " or Endorfer of fuch Bill.'

N. B. In the Sixth Year of Queen Anne's Reign, the afore-recited Acts were made perpetual.

SECT. XL.

Of divers Ways of keeping an Account of Bills of Exchange.

I.

・TH

HE Ways of keeping fuch Reckonings are various among Merchants; but the most approved Method of keeping fuch Accounts, and what is generally practifed among those that have confiderable Dealings in Bills of Exchange, is keeping of two Copy Books, or dividing one Book into two different Parts; the one for copying Bills payable, being fuch as are drawn upon themselves, to be by them accepted and paid; and the other Part for Bills receivable, being such as come to their Hands for them to get accepted, and to receive the Money for, when they shall become due: And it is very obfervable, that some Merchants are commonly so exact in taking fuch Copies, when a Bill is prefented for Acceptance, as to copy them verbatim in their Books, even fo as to fpell after the fame Manner, although fome Words may happen to be falfe fpelt: They copy

it out Letter by Letter; nay, even other Blemishes, which may happen in a Bill, they endeavour to imitate in the Copying, by reafon if the Bill fhould be loft, they can be more pofitive to the Bill, and do find it easier to reclaim the fame, by comparing it with the Copy, when it shall come to Hand again. And this they do by all their Bills of Exchange payable and receivable.

2. Then for thofe Bills they shall accept to pay, they make a Memorandum underneath the Copy of fuch Bills in Writing, by setting down the Day of the Month when accepted; alfo the Party's Name that presents the Bill, and the Place of hist Abode, and the Time of the Bill's falling due, as in the Example following:

Exchange, 3456 Guilders, 16 Stivers, Banco, at 34s. 10d. Ufance, Amfterdam, December.

20

3T

At Ufance, pay this my first of Exchange to Mr. William Gerrard, or Order, the Sum of Three Thousand Four Hundred and Fifty-fix Guilders, Sixteen Stivers, and Banco Exchange, at Thirty-four Shillings and Ten Den. grofs per Sterling, Value received, and put it to Account, as per Advice from

Your humble Servant,

To Mr. Richard Ducane,

Merchant in London.

Henry Hop.

4 January, accepted to William Strong, Servant to Mr. William Coveney, in St. Mary Axe, due 3 February 3301. 15s. 11d.

23 January

And

And when a Bill is prefented for Acceptance, the Poffeffor ufually writes under the Directions in the Copy, where the Merchant lives that accepted the Bill, and when due.

3. Another Way practised by some Merchants, is, by having a Book ruled in several Columns, to infert the Particulars of their Bills; that is to say, the Name of the Drawer, and what Country, the Time of Payment, for what Sum drawn, the Price of the Exchange, Date of the Bill, how much Sterling, to whom payable, to whom accepted, when due, whether paid or protefted; fomething like the Manner following, wherein the foregoing Bill is entered.

M Gilds. s.

S.

d.

1. s. d.

13456 16 34 10 Dr Wm Gerrard. Wm Coveney, 330 15 11 23 Jan. 3 Feb.

St. Mary Axe.

-Paid