THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 9TH MAY, 1885.
(2.) Where a bill is drawn or indorsed by an infant, minor, or corporation having no capacity or power to incur liability on a bill, the drawing or indorsement entitles the holder to receive payment of the bill, and to enforce it against any other party thereto.
23. No person is liable as drawer, indorser, or acceptor of a bill who has not signed it as such: Provided that
(1.) Where a person signs a bill in a trade or assumed name, he is liable thereon as if he had signed it in his own name;
(2.) The signature of the name of a firm is equivalent to the signature by the person so signing of the names of all persons liable as partners in that firm.
24. Subject to the provisions of this Ordinance, where a signature on a bill is forged or placed thereon without the authority of the person whose signature it purports to be, the forged or unauthorised signature is wholly inoperative, and no right to retain the bill or to give a discharge therefor or to enforce payment thereof against any party thereto can be acquired through or under that signature, unless the party against whom it is sought to retain or enforce payment of the bill is precluded from setting up the forgery or want of authority.
Provided that nothing in this section shall affect the ratification of an unauthorised signature not amounting to a forgery.
25. A signature by procuration operates as notice that the agent has but a limited authority to sign, and the principal is only bound by such signature if the agent in so signing was acting within the actual limits of his authority.
26. (1.) Where a person signs a bill as drawer, indorser, or acceptor, and adds words to his signature, indicating that he signs for or on behalf of a principal, or in a representative character, he is not personally liable thereon; but the mere addition to his signature of words describing him as an agent, or as filling a representative character, does not exempt him from personal liability.
(2.) In determining whether a signature on a bill is that of the principal or that of the agent by whose hand it is written, the construction most favourable to the validity of the instrument shall be adopted.
The Consideration for a Bill.
27. (1.) Valuable consideration for a bill may be constituted by,
(a.) Any consideration sufficient to support a simple contract;
(b.) An antecedent debt or liability. Such a debt or liability is deemed valuable consideration whether the bill is payable on demand or at a future time.
(2.) Where value has at any time been given for a bill, the holder is deemed to be a holder for value as regards the acceptor and all parties to the bill who became parties prior to such time.
(3.) Where the holder of a bill has a lien on it, arising either from contract or by implication of law, he is deemed to be a holder for value to the extent of the sum for which he has a lien.
28. (1.) An accommodation party to a bill is a person who has signed a bill as drawer, acceptor, or indorser, without receiving value therefor, and for the purpose of lending his name to some other person.
(2.) An accommodation party is liable on the bill to a holder for value; and it is immaterial whether, when such holder took the bill, he knew such party to be an accommodation party or not.
29. (1.) A holder in due course is a holder who has taken a bill, complete and regular on the face of it, under the following conditions; namely,
(a.) That he became the holder of it before it was overdue, and without notice that it had been previously dishonoured, if such was the fact:
(b.) That he took the bill in good faith and for value, and that at the time the bill was negotiated to him he had no notice of any defect in the title of the person who negotiated it.
Signature essential to liability.
Forged or unauthorised signature.
Procuration signatures.
Person signing as agent or in representative capacity.
Value and holder for value.
Accommodation bill or party.
Holder in due course.
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