Section 32-38 Bill of Exchange Act 1990
Section 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38 of the Bill of Exchange Act [Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 1990] is under Part II [Bills of Exchange – Negotiation of Bills] of the Act.
Section 32 Bill of Exchange Act 1990
(Requisites of a valid endorsement)
An endorsement in order to operate as a negotiation must comply with the following conditions-
(a) It must be written on the bill itself and be signed by the endorser and the simple signature of the endorser on the bill, without any additional words, is sufficient;
(b) An endorsement written on an allonge,or on a “copy” of a bill issued or negotiated in a country where “copies” are recognized is deemed to be written on the bill itself;
(c) It must be an endorsement of the entire bill, that is to say, an endorsement which purports to transfer to the endorsee a part only of the amount payable, or which purports to transfer the bill to two or more endorsees severally does not operate as a negotiation of the bill;
(d) where a bill is payable to the order of two or more payees or endorsees who are not partners, all must endorse, unless the one endorsing has authority to endorse for the others;
(e) where, in a bill payable to order, the payee or endorsee is wrongly designated or his name is misspelt, he may endorse the bill as therein described. adding, if he think fit, his proper signature;
(f) where there are two or more endorsements on a bill. each endorsement is deemed to have been made in the order in which it appears on the bill, until the contrary is proved;
(g) an endorsement may be made in blank or special. It may also contain terms making it restrictive.
Section 33 Bill of Exchange Act 1990
(Conditional endorsement)
Where a bill purports to be endorsed conditionally the condition may be disregarded by the payer, and payment to the endorsee is valid whether the condition has been fulfilled or not.
Section 34 Bill of Exchange Act 1990
(Endorsement in blank and special endorsement)
(1) An endorsement in blank specifies no endorsee, and a bill so endorsed becomes payable to bearer.
(2) A special endorsement specifies the person to whom, or to whose order, the bill is to be payable.
(3) The provisions of this Act relating to a payee apply with the necessary modifications to an endorsee under a special endorsement.
(4) When a bill has been endorsed in blank, any holder may convert the blank endorsement into a special endorsement by writing above the endorser’s signature a direction to pay the bill to or to the order of himself or some other person.
Section 35 Bill of Exchange Act 1990
(Restrictive endorsement)
(1) An endorsement is restrictive which prohibits the further negotiation of the bill or which expresses that it is a mere authority to deal with the bill as thereby directed and not a transfer of the ownership thereof, as for example, if a bill be endorsed “Pay D. only”, or “Pay D. for the account of X”, or “Pay D. or order for collection”.
(2) A restrictive endorsement gives the endorsee the right to receive payment of the bill and to sue any party thereto that his endorser could have sued, but gives him no power to transfer his rights as endorsee unless it expressly authorises him to do so.
(3) Where a restrictive endorsement authorises further transfer, all subsequent endorsees take the bill with the same rights and subject to the same liabilities as the first endorsee under the restrictive endorsement.
Section 36 Bill of Exchange Act 1990
(Negotiation of overdue or dishonoured bill)
(1) Where a bill is negotiable in its origin it continues Negotiation of overdue to be negotiable until it has been –
(a) restrictively endorsed; or
(b) discharged by payment or otherwise.
(2) Where an overdue bill is negotiated, it can only be negotiated subject to any defect of title affecting it at its maturity, and thenceforward no person who takes it can acquire or give a better title than that which the person from whom he took it had.
(3) A bill payable on demand is deemed to be overdue within the meaning and for the purposes of this section, when it appears on the face of it to have been in circulation for an unreasonable length of time. What is an unreasonable length of time for this purpose is a question of fact.
(4) Except where an endorsement bears date after the maturity of the bill, every negotiation is prima facie deemed to have been effected before the bill was overdue.
(5) Where a bill which is not overdue has been dishonoured any person who takes it with notice of the dishonour takes it subject to any defect of title attaching thereto at the time of dishonour, but nothing in this subsection shall affect the rights of a holder in due course.
Section 37 Bill of Exchange Act 1990
(Negotiation of bill to party already liable thereon)
Where a bill is negotiated back to the drawer, or to a Negotiation of bill to prior endorser or to the acceptor, such party may, subject to party the provisions of the Act, re-issue and further negotiate the already liable bill, but he is not entitled to enforce payment of the bill against any intervening party to whom he was previously liable.
Section 38 Bill of Exchange Act 1990
(Rights of the holder)
The rights and powers of the holder of a bill are as follows-
(a) he may sue on the bill in his own name;
(b) where he is a holder in due course, he holds the bill flee from any defect of title of prior parties, as well as from mere personal defences available to prior parties among themselves, and may enforce payment against all parties liable on the bill;
(c) where his title is defective–
(i) if he negotiates the bill to a holder in due course, that holder obtains a good and complete title to the bill, and
(ii) if he obtains payment of the bill the person who pays him in due course gets a valid discharge for the bill.
Credit: CommonLII
