CAP. 19]
[s. 18 cont.]
General and qualified acceptance.
Inchoate instruments,
Bills of Exchange.
(2) When a bill payable after sight is dishonoured by non-acceptance, and the drawee subsequently accepts it, the holder, in the absence of any different agreement, is entitled to have the bill accepted as of the date of first presentment to the drawee for acceptance.
19. (1) An acceptance is either (a) general; or (b) qualified.
(2) A general acceptance assents without qualification to the order of the drawer. A qualified acceptance in express terms varies the effect of the bill as drawn.
(3) In particular, an acceptance is qualified which is- - (a) conditional, that is to say, which makes payment by the acceptor dependent on the fulfilment of a condition therein stated;
(b) partial, that is to say, an acceptance to pay part only of the amount for which the bill is drawn; (c) local, that is to say, an acceptance to pay only at a particular specified place; an acceptance to pay at a particular place is a general acceptance, unless it expressly states that the bill is to be paid there only and not elsewhere;
(d) qualified as to time;
(e) the acceptance of some one or more of the drawees,
but not of all.
20. (1) Where a simple signature on a blank stamped paper is delivered by the signer in order that it may be converted into a bill, it operates as a prima facie authority to fill it up as a complete bill for any amount the stamp will cover, using the signature for that of the drawer, or the acceptor, or an indorser; and, in like manner, when a bill is wanting in any material particular, the person in possession of it has a prima facie authority to fill up the omission in any way he thinks fit.
(2) In order that any such instrument, when completed, may be enforceable against any person who became a party thereto prior to its completion, it must be filled up within a reasonable time and strictly in accordance with the authority given. Reasonable time for this purpose is a question of fact: Provided that if any such instrument after completion
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