Section 27-31 Bill of Exchange Act 1990
Section 27,28,29,30,31 of the Bill of Exchange Act [Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 1990] is under Part II [Bills of Exchange – The Consideration for a Bill] of the Act, among other sections.
Section 27 Bill of Exchange Act 1990
(Value and holder for value)
(1) Valuable consideration for a bill may be constituted by-
(a) any consideration sufficient to support a simple contract;
(b) an antecedent debt or liability and such a debt or liability is deemed valuable consideration whether the bill is payable on demand or at a future time.
(2) Where value has at any time been given for a bill the holder is deemed to be a holder for value as regards the acceptor and all parties to the bill who became parties prior to such time.
(3) Where the holder of a bill has a lien on it arising either from contract or by implication of law, he is deemed to be a holder for value to the extent of the sum for which he has a lien.
Section 28 Bill of Exchange Act 1990
(Accommodation bill or party)
(1) An accommodation party to a bill is a person who has signed a bill as drawer, acceptor or endorser, without receiving value therefor, and for the purpose of lending his name to some other person.
(2) An accommodation party is liable on the bill to a holder for value; and it is immaterial whether, when such holder took the bill, he knew such party to be an accommodation party or not.
Section 29 Bill of Exchange Act 1990
(Accommodation bill or party)
(1) A holder in due course is a holder who has taken a bill, complete and regular on the face of it, under the following conditions:–
(a) that he became the holder of it before it was overdue, and without notice that it had been previously dishonoured, if such was the fact; or
(b) that he took the bill in good faith and for value, and that at the time the bill was negotiated to him he had no notice of any defect in the title of the person who negotiated it.
(2) In particular, the title of a person who negotiates a bill is defective within the meaning of this Act 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.
Section 30 Bill of Exchange Act 1990
(Presumption of value and good faith)
(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.
Section 31 Bill of Exchange Act 1990
(Negotiation of bill)
(1) A bill is negotiated when it is transferred from Negotiation one person to another in such a manner as to constitute the of bill. 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 endorsement of the holder completed by delivery.
(4) Where the holder of a bill payable to his order transfers it for value without endorsing 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 endorsement of the transferor.
(5) Where any person is under obligation to endorse a bill in a representative capacity, he may endorse the bill in such terms as to negative personal liability.
Credit: CommonLII
