300
Presumption
of value and good faith.
Negotiation of bill.
Requisites of valid
indorsement.
No. 3 of 1885.
BILLS OF EXCHANGE,
(2) In particular, the title of a person who negotiates a bill is defective within the meaning of this Ordinance when he obtained the bill, or the acceptance thereof, by fraud, duress, or force and fear, or other unlawful means, or for an illegal consideration, or when he negotiates it in breach of faith or under such circumstances as amount to a fraud.
(3) A holder (whether for value or not) who derives his title to a bill through a holder in due course, and who is not himself a party to any fraud or illegality affecting it, has all the rights of that holder in due course as regards the acceptor and all parties to the bill prior to that holder.
30.—(1) Every party whose signature appears on a bill is prima facie deemed to have become a party thereto for value.
(2) Every holder of a bill is prima facie deemed to be a holder in due course; but if, in an action on a bill, it is admitted or proved that the acceptance, issue, or subsequent negotiation of the bill is affected with fraud, duress, or force and fear, or illegality, the burden of proof is shifted unless and until the holder proves that, subsequent to the alleged fraud or illegality, value has in good faith been given for the bill.
Negotiation of bill.
31.—(1) A bill is negotiated when it is transferred from one person to another in such a manner as to constitute the transferee the holder of the bill.
(2) A bill payable to bearer is negotiated by delivery.
(3) A bill payable to order is negotiated by the indorsement of the holder completed by delivery.
(4) Where the holder of a bill payable to his order transfers it for value without indorsing it, the transfer gives the transferee such title as the transferor had in the bill, and the transferee in addition acquires the right to have the indorsement of the transferor.
(5) Where any person is under obligation to indorse a bill in a representative capacity, he may indorse the bill in such terms as to negative personal liability.
32. An indorsement in order to operate as a negotiation must comply with the following conditions, namely,—
(1) it must be written on the bill itself and be signed by the indorser. The simple signature of the indorser on the bill, without additional words, is sufficient.
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