Protest

1.

In the most general sense, signifies any formal or officially authenticated declaration; conveying, however, usually, the idea of an adversary declaration; an objection. Burrill defines it exceedingly well, as being a solemn declaration against an act about to be done, or already done, expressive of disapprobation or dissent, or made with the view of preserving some right which, but for such declaration, might be taken to be relinquished, or of exonerating the party protesting from some liability which might otherwise attach to him.

2.

In the parlance of deliberative and legislative bodies, of corporate and public meetings, a protest is a formal notice which one or more members sometimes make, and ask to have incorporated in the minutes, of their objection to some act or vote of the majority.

3.

In a very frequent and important use relating to bills of exchange, protest, in legal strictness, means the formal declaration drawn up and signed by the notary, that he presented the bill for acceptance, or for payment, and that it sory notes; for, as to these, no presentment by notary, acting ofl Scially, is, by the general mercantile law, necessary. Any one may make the necessary demand; though, under statutes allowing the notary's certificate to be read in evidence of demand and refusal, the employment of one is usual and convenient. But " protest," in the broader and looser sense in which it is generally employed among merchants, signifies dishonor of mercantile paper. One's commercial obligations are said to go to protest when they are not paid at maturity, the observance of necessary steps to charge indorsers being rather taken for granted than necessarily implied; and in this use " protest " may well be understood as applying to notes as well as bills. It may also embrace all the steps needed to charge indorsers, as well as mere presentment and official declaration of dishonor. A promise to " waive protest " of a note ought to be construed as binding the promisor to waive proof of demand and of notice to indorsers, and not as confined to mere dispensing with presentment by a notary. Coddington a.

Davis, 1 N. Y. 186; 3 Den. 16.

Protest, applied to commercial paper, means a demand of payment in proper form, and at a proper time; and, in case of nonpayment, due and reasonable notice to the indorsers by any suitable person. This is the usual and popular meaning of the term, as used even among merchants, and the sole meaning as used by non-commercial and unlearned men.

Ayrault v. Pacific Bank, 47 N. Y. 570.

Protest, in a technical sense, means only the formal declaration drawn up and signed by the notary; yet, as used by commercial men, the word includes all the steps necessary to charge an indorser.

Townsend v. Lorain Bank, 2 Ohio St. 345.

The admission of a party to a note, that he knew the note had not been " protested." is for the jury to construe whether he intended the word to be taken in its technical sense, or in its popular sense, including demand and notice. Brannon i;.

Hursell, 112 Mass. 63. 4.

In maritime law, a declaration made on oath before a magistrate, consul, or notary-public, in any distant port, of the damage likely to ensue from a ship's delay, is termed a protest; and so is a solemn account, authenticated before a notary, of the vessel and her cargo, or sel, reasons compelling the master to make sale of the ship abroad, or the like.

5.

Under the acts of congress regulating the collection of duties, whenever an importer, charged with what he deems an excessive duty on particular goods, desires to pay it for the purpose of withdrawing the goods from customhouse, but to reserve his right to bring an action to test the question and recover back the excess from the collector, he must, at the time of paying the duties, serve upon the collector a written notice of his objection. This is called his protest.

6.

The objection of a person making a payment that he disputes the obliga^ tion or the amount, stated for the purpose of reserving a right of reclamation, is called a protest. As far as form is concerned, almost any which is distinct and certain, and gives the creditor or claimant means of reducing the demand to limits within which it can be sustained, is sufficient; though we do not understand that making a protest against a demand by an ordinaiy creditor, or even by an official collector, gives a right to sue to recover back the money paid, unless the payment was made under compulsion, or to avoid or release some duress. But the expression making payment "under protest" means only "under objection," under notice that it will be reclaimed, and does not import any official authenticar tion of the objection or notice.