Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Origin And History Of Promissory Notes And Paper Credit.
oldest instrument of the kind on record , in the reign of Edward III . ( See the Year-books . ) The obligatory or promissory part of the ancient bill was generally expressed by the words ' to be paid , ' a translation of the Latin word ' solvendum . ' It is observable , that when the phrase , ' i" promise to pay , ' first crept into a bill of debt , in the reign of Edward IV . an objection was taken to it in law . It is truethe court over-ruled the
, objection ; the new phraseology , however , was not adopted , but the accustomed form still continued to prevail . Another circumstance , in which the old bills of debt differed from our modern notes of hand , was in the grammatical structure of the sentence . The term fixed for future payment followed , and never preceded , " the obligatory words of the bill . This is invariable in all the instances to be found
prior to the seventeenth century . The concluding clause , too , was ahvays full : not , ' toiiness my hand , ' but' in witness whereof I have hereunto put my hand and seal , ' or to that effect . Neither Was the date placed by itself , as it now is , but embodied in the bill . The forms of bills of debt generally ran thus : ' Md . that I Master A . B . have received of B . C . Twenty
Pound , the which Twenty Pound I the . said the Master A . B « promise to pay to B . C . In witness , ' & c . & c . Or : ' Me . That I owe to X . Y . Twenty Pound to be paid iri
Goods . —In witness , ' & c . & c . The want of regular promissory notes , in their present form , was a constant theme of complaint during the first half of the seventeenth century . MALINES wrote his book , called Lex Mercatoria , or Law Merchant , in 1622 . This writer allots two-whole chapters , the 12 th and ith well half of the nthto the subject of bills of
; . ; , as as , debt , or bills ' obligatory , as employed in buying and selling by the merchants-adventurers of Amsterdam , Middleburgh , and Hamburgh , He tells us , that ' in the East Countries ( that is , in the countries about the Baltic ) and sometimes in the Low Countries , they will put a seal , but that sealing is not necessary . ' The use and transfer of -these bills in commerce he declares to be a laudable customnot
, practised in England , but which , he thinks , mi g ht with great facility be established , and would be very beneficial to the king and the commonwealth in general . One of this author ' s remarks shews plainly , that he thought the acknowledgment of the debt to be of the very essence of the bill . ' The Civil Law and the Law-Merchant ( says he ) do requirethat the bill shall declarefor what the debt
, , grcwefb , either tor merchandize or money , or any other lawful consideration . Under the Protectorate of Cromwell , in the year 1651 , John Maritis , a notary public , wrote a work , entituled ' Advice concerning Bills of Exchange ; ' and in 16 55 printed a second edition , much enlarged . The work is a folio , of forty close pages ; and we learn from
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Origin And History Of Promissory Notes And Paper Credit.
oldest instrument of the kind on record , in the reign of Edward III . ( See the Year-books . ) The obligatory or promissory part of the ancient bill was generally expressed by the words ' to be paid , ' a translation of the Latin word ' solvendum . ' It is observable , that when the phrase , ' i" promise to pay , ' first crept into a bill of debt , in the reign of Edward IV . an objection was taken to it in law . It is truethe court over-ruled the
, objection ; the new phraseology , however , was not adopted , but the accustomed form still continued to prevail . Another circumstance , in which the old bills of debt differed from our modern notes of hand , was in the grammatical structure of the sentence . The term fixed for future payment followed , and never preceded , " the obligatory words of the bill . This is invariable in all the instances to be found
prior to the seventeenth century . The concluding clause , too , was ahvays full : not , ' toiiness my hand , ' but' in witness whereof I have hereunto put my hand and seal , ' or to that effect . Neither Was the date placed by itself , as it now is , but embodied in the bill . The forms of bills of debt generally ran thus : ' Md . that I Master A . B . have received of B . C . Twenty
Pound , the which Twenty Pound I the . said the Master A . B « promise to pay to B . C . In witness , ' & c . & c . Or : ' Me . That I owe to X . Y . Twenty Pound to be paid iri
Goods . —In witness , ' & c . & c . The want of regular promissory notes , in their present form , was a constant theme of complaint during the first half of the seventeenth century . MALINES wrote his book , called Lex Mercatoria , or Law Merchant , in 1622 . This writer allots two-whole chapters , the 12 th and ith well half of the nthto the subject of bills of
; . ; , as as , debt , or bills ' obligatory , as employed in buying and selling by the merchants-adventurers of Amsterdam , Middleburgh , and Hamburgh , He tells us , that ' in the East Countries ( that is , in the countries about the Baltic ) and sometimes in the Low Countries , they will put a seal , but that sealing is not necessary . ' The use and transfer of -these bills in commerce he declares to be a laudable customnot
, practised in England , but which , he thinks , mi g ht with great facility be established , and would be very beneficial to the king and the commonwealth in general . One of this author ' s remarks shews plainly , that he thought the acknowledgment of the debt to be of the very essence of the bill . ' The Civil Law and the Law-Merchant ( says he ) do requirethat the bill shall declarefor what the debt
, , grcwefb , either tor merchandize or money , or any other lawful consideration . Under the Protectorate of Cromwell , in the year 1651 , John Maritis , a notary public , wrote a work , entituled ' Advice concerning Bills of Exchange ; ' and in 16 55 printed a second edition , much enlarged . The work is a folio , of forty close pages ; and we learn from