18 N.H. 391 | Superior Court of New Hampshire | 1846
There are eases which hold that an action may’be commenced upon a bank note, payable on demand, but which is not payable at any particular place,
There are other cases whieh militate somewhat with those just cited, and we cannot concur in the opinion. 19 Johns. 323, Spencer, C. J., Jefferson Co. Bank v. Chapin; 16 Mass. 68, 69, Wilde, J., Hinsdale v. Larned.
We do not perceive any sound principle on whieh to distinguish bank notes, payable on demand, generally, from those payable on demand at a particular place, in regard to this question; and very cogent reasons exist why it should not be held that an action upon them accrues to the holder as soon as they are issued, without any request for payment, unless there is something to excuse the holder from making such request.
Promissory notes payable on demand are, by the import of their terms, payable upon request. But long settled construction, regarding them as evidence that money is due from the promisor to the holder, makes them payable generally as if the note had contained a promise to pay a sum of money to the holder, without anything super-added. It is held that a suit is a sufficient demand, which implies the necessity of a demand, and then negatives the necessity of any such demand by sustaining a suit which is supposed to be founded upon a demand, when none has in fact been made. The writ is in no sense the demand upon which the suit is founded. This construction makes it the duty of the maker to seek the holder, and make payment without any demand, and charges him with neglect if he fail so to do.
But this rule in relation to promissory notes, whieh gives to the promise a signification not entirely in accordance with the terms of the instrument, does not necessarily furnish the principle in relation to bank notes.
Were it otherwise, actions on bank notes, like those on promissory notes payable on demand, would be bai’red by tbe statute of limitations, on tbe expiration of six years from tbe time when they were dated, or last issued. Such a principle would astonish the community. One hardly thinks of looking at the date of a bank note, if it appear to he genuine. Such would he the consequence, however, of holding that there was a cause of action, without any demand, immediately bn the issue of the note.
But although the general principle requires a demand, a bank may so conduct as to waive any right to insist on a demand; and the defendants have done so here. When they shut up their bank and had no place of business, they precluded a demand in the usual way; and the holders of their bills were not bound to seek the officers of the hank elsewhere, for the purpose of demanding payment. 16 East 112, Howe v. Bowes.
Judgment on the verdict.