(2) A bill which has been protested for non-acceptance may be subsequently protested for non-payment. (3) Subject to the provisions of this Proclamation, when a bill is noted or protested it must be noted on the day of its dishonour. When a bill has been duly noted the protest may be subsequently extended as of the date of the noting. (4) Where the acceptor of a bill becomes insolvent or assigns his estate or suspends payment before it matures, the holder may cause the bill to be protested for better security against the drawer and endorsers. (5) A bill must be protested at the place where it is dishonoured: Provided that (a) When a bill is presented through the post office and returned by post dishonoured it may be protested at the place to which it is returned and on the day of its return if received during business hours, and if not received during business hours then not later than the next business day. (b) When a bill drawn payable at the place of business or residence of some person other than the drawee has been dishonoured by non-acceptance it must, if protested, be protested for non-payment at the place where it is expressed to be payable, and no further presentment for payment to or demand on the drawee is necessary. (6) A protest must contain a copy of the bill and must be signed by the notary making it, and must specify (a) the person at whose request the bill is protested; (b) the place and date of protest, the cause or reason for protesting the bill, the demand made and the answer given (if any), or the fact that the drawee or acceptor could not be found. (7) Where a bill is lost or destroyed or is wrongly detained from the person entitled to hold it, protest may be made on a copy or written particulars thereof. (8) Protest is dispensed with by any circumstance which would dispense with notice of dishonour. Delay in noting or protesting is excused when the delay is caused by circumstances beyond the control of the holder and not imputable to his default, misconduct or negligence. When the cause of delay ceases to operate the bill must be noted or protested, when necessary, with reasonable diligence. 50. (1) When a bill is accepted generally presentment for payment is not necessary in order to render the acceptor liable. (2) When by the terms of a qualified acceptance presentment for payment is required, the acceptor, in the absence of an express stipulation to that effect, is not discharged by the omission to present the bill for payment on the day that it matures. (3) In order to render the acceptor of a bill liable it is not necessary to protest it or that notice of dishonour should be given to him. (4) Where a holder of a bill presents it for payment he shall exhibit the bill to the person from whom he demands payment, and when a bill is paid the holder shall forthwith deliver it up to the party paying it. LIABILITIES OF PARTIES. 51. A bill of itself does not operate as an assignment of funds in the hands of the drawee available for the payment thereof, and the drawee of a bill who does not accept as required by this Proclamation is not liable on the instrument. 52. The acceptor of a bill by accepting it— (1) engages that he will pay it according to the tenor of his acceptance; (2) is precluded from denying to a holder in due course— (a) the existence of the drawer, the genuineness of his signature and his capacity and authority to draw the bill; (b) in the case of a bill payable to drawer's order the then capacity of the drawer to endorse, but not the genuineness or validity of his endorsement; (c) in the case of a bill payable to the order of a third person the existence of the payee and his then capacity to endorse, but not the genuineness or the validity of his endorsement. 53. (1) The drawer of a bill by drawing it (a) engages that on due presentment it shall be accepted and paid according to its tenor, and that if it be dishonoured he will compensate the holder or any endorser who is compelled to pay it, provided that the requisite proceedings on dishonour be duly taken; (b) is precluded from denying to a holder in due course the existence of the payee and his then capacity to endorse. (2) The endorser of a bill by endorsing it (a) engages that on due presentment it shall be accepted (b) is precluded from denying to a holder in due course his endorsement a valid and subsisting bill, and that 54. Where a person signs a bill otherwise than as drawer or acceptor he or she thereby incurs the liabilities of an endorser to a holder in due course. 55. Where a bill is dishonoured the measure of damages, which shall be deemed to be liquidated damages, shall be as follows : (1) The holder may recover from any party liable on the bill, and the drawer who has been compelled to pay the bill may recover from the acceptor, and an endorser who has been compelled to pay the bill may recover from the acceptor or from the drawer or from a prior endorser (a) the amount of the bill; (b) interest thereon in accordance with the stipulation (if any) in the bill, or from the time of presentment for payment if the bill is payable on demand, or from the maturity of the bill in any other case; (c) the expenses of noting, and where the protest has been extended the expenses of the protest. (2) In the case of a bill which has been dishonoured abroad in lieu of the above damages the holder may recover from the drawer or an endorser, and the drawer or an endorser who has been compelled to pay the bill may recover from any party liable to him the amount of the re-exchange, with interest thereon until the time of payment. (3) Where by this Proclamation interest may be recovered as damages, such interest may, if justice require it, be withheld wholly or in part, and where a bill is expressed to be payable with interest at a given rate interest as damages may or may not be given at the same rate as interest proper. 56. (1) Where the holder of a bill payable to bearer negotiates it by delivery without endorsing it he is called a transferor by delivery. (2) A transferor by delivery is not liable on the instrument. (3) A transferor by delivery who negotiates a bill thereby warrants to his immediate transferee, being a holder for value, that the bill is what it purports to be, that he has a right to transfer it and that at the time of transfer he is not aware of any fact which renders it valueless. DISCHARGE OF BILL. 57. (1) A bill is discharged by payment in due course or pro tanto by payment of part notified by endorsement on the bill if such payment be made by or on behalf of the drawee or acceptor. (2) Subject to the provisions hereinafter contained, when a bill is paid by the drawer or an endorser it is not discharged; but (a) where a bill payable to or to the order of a third party is paid by the drawer, the drawer may enforce payment thereof against the acceptor, but may not re-issue the bill; (b) where a bill is paid by an endorser, or where a bill payable to drawer's order is paid by the drawer, the party paying it is remitted to his former rights as regards the acceptor or antecedent parties, and he may, if he thinks fit, strike out his own and subsequent endorsements, and again negotiate the bill. (3) Where an accommodation bill is paid in due course by the party accommodated the bill is discharged. 58. When a bill payable to order on demand is drawn on a banker, and the banker pays the bill in good faith and in the ordinary course of business, it is not incumbent on the banker to show that the endorsement of the payee or any subsequent endorsement was made by or under the authority of the person whose endorsement it purports to be, and the banker is deemed to have paid the bill in due course, although such endorsement has been forged or made without authority; provided such endorsement does not purport to be that of a person who is a customer of the banker at the branch on which the said bill is drawn. 59. When the acceptor of a bill is or becomes the holder of it at or after its maturity in his own right the bill is discharged. 60. (1) When the holder of a bill at or after its maturity absolutely and unconditionally renounces his rights against the acceptor the bill is discharged. The renunciation must be in writing on the bill unless the bill is delivered up to the acceptor. (2) The liabilities of any party to a bill may in like manner be renounced by the holder before, at or after its maturity; but nothing in this section shall affect the rights of a holder in due course without notice of the renunciation. 61. (1) Where a bill is intentionally cancelled by the holder or his agent, and the cancellation is apparent thereon, the bill is discharged. (2) In like manner any party liable on a bill may be discharged by the intentional cancellation of his signature by the holder or his |