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5.
6.
to complete any formality during the period of the occupation and moratorium.
Where the period within which a negotiable instrument should have been presented for acceptance or for payment, or within which notice of non-acceptance or non-paymont should have been given to the drawer or endorser, or within which the instrument should have been protested, has clapsed during the occupation or moratorium, and the party who should have presented or protested the instrument or havo given notice of non-acceptance or non-payment has not done so during the period of the occupation and moratorium the poriod allowed with- in which presentation, notice of non-acccptance or non-payment or protest may be made shall bogin to run from the last day of the moratorium.
LIMIT TIOIT & PRESCRIPTION
All periods of prescription or limitation of right of ection, whether they began to run before or after the occupation, shall be treated as having been suspended for the duration of the occupation and moratorium. They shall begin to run after the termination of the period of the debt moratorium.
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This provision shall apply to the period prescribed for the prosentation of interest or dividend coupons or for the presentation for ropayment of securities drawn for repayment or repayable on any other ground.
PAYMENTS FERMISSIBLE DURING
THE MORATORIUM.
The provisions of the debt moratorium shall not, prevent any person who is indebted to a bank from paying moncy to a new account to be applied on account of any dobt duc to the bank on such terms and conditions as may be agreed upon between the partics.
banks and their customers to complete the necessary formal- ities during the period of the occupation and it might be difficult to do so during the moratorium, the period allowed might begin to run from the last day of the moratorium. In the Treaty of Versailles (X, V, 301) the period was extended to cover the war and three months from the date of the Treaty.
It seems to be established in English and American law that statutes of limitation do not run against parties while they are doprived of their judicial remedies (Hyde International Law ii.612 McNair: Legal Effects of War pp. 74-81)
For the sake of clarity, and to facilitate the settlement of accounts without needless litig- ation which has to wait till the civil courts start to function there seems good reason for a declaration that the periods of limitation shall not run during the occupation or moratorium so that they may begin to run from the end of the moratorium.
A debtor should not be prevented from paying a debt due to the bank during the moratorium if he has the money available and it may be to his advantage to avoid payment of interest or other chargos during the intervening period or to make such compromise with the bank in consideration of prompt payment as the parties may agree upon.
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