AFFIDAVIT. AN affidavit is a written statement, subscribed by the party making it, and sworn to or affirmed before the proper officer. A deposition is the testimony of a witness under oath, reduced to writing. No. 34.-Form of Affidavit. State of Illinois, to wit: JOHN DOE, of the town of Geneva, in the county aforesaid, being duly sworn, says [here state the facts], and further says not. Sworn to this tenth day of October, A. D. 1850, before me, JOHN Jones, Commissioner of Deeds. JOHN DOE. } If the matters embraced in the affidavit are not within the deponent's own knowledge, but have been communicated to him by others in whose assertion he places confidence, the affidavit should be in this form : JOHN DOE, of the town of Geneva, in the county aforesaid, being duly sworn, says that he has been informed, and believes it to be true, that [here insert what he has been informed of]; and further says not. JOHN DOE. Sworn to this tenth day of October, A. D. 1850, before me, JOHN JONES, Commissioner of Deeds. BILLS OF EXCHANGE. A bill of exchange is a written request from one person to another, desiring him to pay a sum of money to a third person, absolutely and at all events. They are seldom used except in drawing upon a person who is abroad in a foreign country. The person who draws the bill is called the drawer; the person on whom it is drawn is called the drawee. After the drawee has accepted the bill, he is called the acceptor. A bill or note drawn payable to order must have the name of the person to whose order it is made payable written on it before it can be negotiated to a third person; and he whose name is thus written on it is liable to pay the bill or note, if not paid, and he have due notice of the same. In accepting a bill of exchange or draft, write the word. "accepted," together with the date when accepted, and the name of the party or firm accepting, across the face or on the back of the bill or draft. Acceptance acknowledges the genuineness of the signature of the drawer; and the acceptor would be liable to a holder in good faith, although the signature of the drawer were a forgery. When a bill is drawn payable so many days after sight, it should be presented for acceptance on the rext day after it is received. If you keep the bill without presenting it for acceptance, to the injury of the drawer, you must bear the loss yourself. The drawee of a bill has twenty-four hours' time within which to make up his mind whether he will accept the bill; but if he refuses to return it after the expiration of that time, he is to be considered as having accepted it. If the drawee refuses to accept a bill presented for acceptance, or to pay a bill presented for payınent, it should be im mediately protested, and notice sent to all the endorsers on the bill; otherwise the endorsers will not be liable. Three days of grace, as they are called, are allowed on bills of exchange that are not drawn payable at sight; that is, they are not due until the third day after the time mentioned in the bill. If the third day happens to fall on Sunday, they are then due the day before, that is, on Saturday. A bill drawn at sight is payable on presentation: at least it is advisable to protest it first for non-payment, and then demand acceptance; and if acceptance is refused, protest it also for non-acceptance. A person becoming surety for a note or bill of exchange, should be notified of its non-payment in the same manner as an endorser. A check ought to be presented for payment within twenty-four hours of the time of receiving it. If the drawer of a check payable on demand have no funds in the bank at the time it is drawn, it is a fraud. The holder of a check is not obliged to accept part payment thereof, although tendered by the bank: he has a right to have the whole, and may decline any less sum. If the drawee of a bill or maker of a note be out of the state or at sea, the same must be presented at his usual place of business, or at his place of residence, unless some other place is specified therein. Any material alteration of a bill of exchange, drafts, &c.such as an alteration in the date, in the amount, or the time of payment-discharges all the parties thereto who do not assent to the making of the alteration. See "PROMISSORY NOTES," &c. |