15 Pa. 268 | Pa. | 1851
The opinion of the court was delivered, by
In the case of a special indorsement of a bill of exchange or promissory note, to enable any one but the special indorsee to recover on the bill, it must appear either that it is re-indorsed or re-assigned' by the special indorsee, or that he has received satisfaction. The mere possession of the note or bill of exchange by the indorser who had indorsed it to another, is not sufficient evidence of his right of action against his indorser, without a re-assignment or receipt from the last indorsee. This is ruled in Gorgerat v. McCarty, 2 Dal. 144; 1 Yeates, 94; Zeigler v. Geary, 12 Ser. & R. 43; 7 Cranch 159; and in Craig v. Brown, 1 Peters’s C. C. Rep. 174. But this rule obtains only when the note is specially indorsed by the payee, or made payable specially by the maker, for when the note or bill is indorsed in blank, the rule is otherwise. A blank indorsement makes the bill' transferable by mere delivery. When the first indorsement is in blank, the bill or note as against the payee, drawer, or acceptor, is afterwards assignable by mere delivery, notwithstanding it may have subsequent indorsements in full; because a subsequent holder by delivery may declare and recover, as the indorsee of the payee, and strike out all the subsequent indorsements, whether special or not: Chitty on. Bills, 175-6, 5th edition. In Smith v. Clarke, 1 Esp. Rep. 180; S. C. Peake’s Rep. 225, a bill was indorsed in blank by the payee, and after some other indorsements, indorsed to Jackson or order ; Jackson never indorsed the bill, but a recovery was had by a subsequent holder who had stricken out all the indorsements but the first. Lord Kenyon gives the reason for the decision. He said the doctrine contended for by the’ defendant’s counsel was not supported by any case, and that it would clog the circulation of bills of exchange, if, by indorsement of this sort, where there might
After an indorsement in blank by the payee or subsequent indorser, it is competent for the holder of the bill or note to make himself the immediate indorsee, and to claim by the blank indorsement : Taylor v. Binney, 7 Mass. 481; Mullen v. French, 9 Watts 96.
And where a person fairly and without fraud becomes possessed of a negotiable note, indorsed in blank, it has been held that he may maintain an action thereon, although it has not been legally transferred to him: Little v. O’Brien, 9 Mass. 423; Bowman v. Wood, 15 Mass. 534.
So, where a promissory note, payable to order, is indorsed in blank, the holder has a right to fill it up with any name he pleases, and the person whose name is inserted will be deemed the legal owner; and if in fact the indorsement in blank was intended as a transfer for the benefit of another person, yet he would be considered as a trustee, suing for the benefit of the person having the legal interest: Lovell v. Evertson, 11 Johns. R. 52; 11 Ser. & R. 179, Sterling v. Marietta Co.
Judgment affirmed.