188 S.E. 123 | W. Va. | 1936
This certificate presents the question, whether legal action is maintainable against the maker of a note, by one to whom allegedly the payee had transferred the note for value without indorsing it. On demurrer, the circuit court held against the transferee.
The demurrant contends that since the note herein was not indorsed, the transfer did not pass the right of legal action, citing decisions under the Law Merchant *723
and also citing the Negotiable Instruments Law, section 30 (W. Va. Code, 46-3-1) which follows: "An instrument is negotiated when it is transferred from one person to another in such manner as to constitute the transferee the holder thereof. If payable to bearer it is negotiated by delivery: if payable to order it is negotiated by the indorsement of the holder, completed by delivery." It is uniformly held that the first sentence of this section defines negotiation; and that the second sentence is specific rather than exclusive. "The last sentence of section 30 was manifestly * * * not intended to define the exclusive methods by which negotiation can be accomplished." Nat. Bank v. Smith,
The first sentence in point 1 of the syllabus in our case ofCommunity Co. v. Eifort,
The ruling of the circuit court is reversed.
Reversed. *725