acceptance

Acceptors of a bill of exchange, by the act of acceptance, admit the genuineness of the signatures of the drawers, and the competency of the drawers to assume that responsibility. Such an act imports an engagement, on the part of the acceptor, to the payee or other lawful holder of the bill, to pay the same, if duly presented, when it becomes due, according to the tenor of the acceptance.

The taking and receiving of anything in good part, and as it were a tacit agreement to a preceding act, which might have been defeated or avoided if such acceptance had not been made. Brooke, Abr. The act of a person to whom a thing is offered or tendered by another, whereby he receives the thing with the intention of retuin-ing it, such intention being evidenced by a sufficient act. The acceptance of goods sold under a contract which would be void by the statute of frauds without delivery and acceptance involves something more than the act of the vendor in the delivery. It requires that the vendee should also act, and that his act should be of such a nature as to indicate that he receives and acoepts the goods delivered as his property. He must receive and retain the articles delivered, intending thereby to assume the title to them, to constitute the acceptance mentioned in the statute. Rodgers v. Phillips, 40 N. Y. 524. See, also, Snow v. Warner, 10 Mete. (Mass.) 132, 43 Am. Dec. 417. In marine insurance, the acceptance of an abandonment by the underwriter is his assent, either express or to be implied from the surrounding circumstances, to the sufficiency and regularity of the abandonment. Its effect is to perfect the insured's right of action as for a total loss, if the cause of loss and circumstances have been truly disclosed. Rap. & Law. Acceptance of a hill of exchange.

In mercantile law. The act by which the person on whom a bill of exchange is drawn (called the "drawee") assents to the request of the drawer to pay it, or, in other words, engages or makes himself liable, to pay it when due. 2 Bl Comm. 469; Cox v. National Bank, 100 U. S. 704, 25 In Ed. 739. It may be by parol or in writing, and either general or special, absolute or conditional; and it may be impliedly, as well as expressly, given. 8 Kent, Comm. 83, 85; Story, Bills, §§ 238, 251 But the usual and regular mode of acceptance is by the drawee's writing across the face of the bill the word "accepted," and subscribing his name; after which he is termed the acceptor. Id. § 243. The following are the principal varieties of acceptances: Absolute. An express and positive agreement to pay the bill according to its tenor. Conditional. An engagement to pay the bill on the happening of a condition. Todd v. Bank of Kentucky, 3 Bush (Ky ) 62S. Express. An absolute acceptance. Implied. An acceptance inferred by law from the acts or conduct of the drawee. Partial. An acceptance varying from the tenor of the bill. Qualified. One either conditional or partial, and which introduces a variation in the sum, time, mode, or place of payment. Supra protest. An acceptance by a third person, after protest of the bill for non-acceptance by the drawee, to save the honor of the drawer or some particular indorser. A general acceptance is an absolute acceptance precisely in conformity with the tenor of the bill itself, and not qualified by any statement, condition, or change. Rowe v. Young, 2 Brod. & B. 180; Todd v. Bank of Kentucky, 3 Bush (Ky.) 628 A special acceptance is the qualified acceptance of a bill of exchange, as where it is accepted as payable at a particular place "and not elsewhere." Rowe v. Young, 2 Brod. & B. 180.

! A receiving — with approval, or conformably to the purpose of a tejider or offer; receiving with intention to retain. Whence acceptor, non-acceptance. A person is said to accept the service of a notice, an offer, a bid, the terms of a contract, a guaranty, a charter, rent, goods delivered, a bill of exchange. 1. At common law, a, sale of goods, wares, or merchandise was complete upon acceptance of the offer to sell. The Statute of Frauds requires that before an action can be maintained there must have been both a delivery and an acceptance «)f the article by the purchaser or by his duly authorized agent. In determining, in a particular case, whether there was a binding acceptance, the courts consider the intention of the parties and the nature of the property.^ It is a question for the jury whether, under all the circumstances, the acts which the buyer does or forbears to do amount to a receipt and acceptance. But where the facts are not in dispute it is for the court to determine their legal effect; also when the facts are- not such as can in law warrant finding an acceptance. To take the contract out of the operation of the statute, there must be " acts of such a character as to place the property unequivocally within the power and imder the exclusive dominion of the buyer as absolute owner, discharged of all liens for the price.", ^ See Frauds, Statute of; Offer, 1. 3. Acceptance of a bill of exchange is an assent or agreement to comply with the request or order contained in the bill, or, in other words, an assent or agreement to pay the bill according to the tenor of the acceptance, when due.* An engagement to pay the bill according to the tenor of the acceptance; a general acceptance being an, engagement to pay according to the tenor of the bill.' " Accepted," on a bill of exchange, is an engagement to pay the bill in money when due. Indorsed 1 L. accipcre, to receive. 2 See Bullock v. Tschergi, 1.3 F. E. 345 (1882); Mahan «. United States, 16 WaU. 146 (1872); 1 Eped, St.Fr. §§ 258-303, oases; 28 Minn. 854; 2 Kent, 494; 3 Pars. Contr. 39; 2 Bl. Corfi. 447. s Hinchman v. Lincoln, 124 U. S. 38 (1888), cases, Matthews, J., quoting Marsh v. Eouse, 44 N. Y. 617 (1871), cases. See also Shindler v. Houston, 1 id. 265 (1848): 49 Am. Dec. 325-40(1883), cases; Eemick v. Sandford, 120 Mass. 316 (1876), oases; Baldey v. Parker, 3 Bam. & C. *40 (1823); Benj. Sales, § 187; Browne, Stat. Fr. §317 a. 4 Gallagher u. Nichols, 60 N. T. 445 (1875), Miller, J.; 12 Barb. 669; 1 Pars. N. & B. 281. upon non-negotiable paper, would not import a.consideration.! The bill itself, after acceptance, is also called " an acceptance." Acceptor. He who accepts a bill of exchange,— usually the drawee. An acceptance is commonly naade by writing "accepted " upon the face of the bill and signing thereunder the acceptor's name; but there is no particular place, and no uniform formula, observed. Acceptances are: express, and implied; verbal, and written; prior to drawing the bill; before or after maturity; for accommodation; after protest; absolute, qualified, conditional; by all the drawees, by one or more of them, by a person not a drawee for the honor of the drawer or of an indorser. They are "complete," when in exact conformity with the tenor of the bill; " qualified," when the engagement is to pay at a different time, place, or manner, from the tenor; and " conditional," when the obligation to pay is to commence on the happening of some event or circumstance. ^ Every act giving credit to a bill amounts to an acceptance; and this, once fairly and fully made and consummated, cannot be revoked. But the drawee has a reasonable time in which to obtain desired and pertinent information.' Unless forbidden by statute, a promise to accept an existing bill is an acceptance whether the promise is in writing or by parol. The acceptor is to the drawer as the maker of a promissory note is to the payee, i. e., he is the principal debtor, and the drawer is his surety. His liability is governed by the terms of the acceptance.' Acceptors of a bill of exchange by, the act of acceptance admit the genuineness of the signatures of the drawees, and the competency of the drawers to assume that responsibility. Such an act imports an engagement, on the part ot;the acceptor, with the payee or other lawful holder of the bill, to pay the same if duly presented, when it becomes due according to the tenor of the acceptance. He engages to pay the holder, whether payee or indorsee, the full amount of the bill at maturity, and if he does not, the holder has a right of action against him, and he may also have one against the drawee. Drawers of bills of exchange, however, are not liable to the holder, under such circumstances, until it appears that the bill was duly presented, and that the acceptor refused or neglected to pay according to the tenor of the instrument; their liability is contingent and subject to those conditions 1 Cowan V. Halleck, 9 Col. 578 (188G), eases. 2 See 1 Pars. Contr. 267; 2 Pars. N. & B. 281; 1 Daniel, Neg. Inst. I 496; 64 Ala. 38-33; 109 Mass. 414. ' 3 Kent, 82-88. « Scudder v. Union Nat. Bank, 91 U. S. 413-14 (1875), piaecedent.! SeeCEECEj ExcHAHOS, 2, BUI of; Fi Acs, 1, Of payment; Protest, 2.

1. The agreement to pay a bill of exchange, made by. the drawee when the bill is presented, as by writing his name on the face. Acceptance supra protest or for honor: an acceptance made by some friend of the drawer or indorser of a bill, when the drawee has refused to accept, by which the acbecomes liable if the drawee does not at

[Lat. acceptatio, from acceptare, to accept.] A receiving with approbation, or satisfaction; or, in the language of the old books, "a taking in good part." Termes de la ley. Cowell. — Approval of, assent to, or acquiescence in a thing received; an agreement to keep a thing received. Acceptance is receipt, and something more. There cannot be acceptance without receipt, but there is often receipt without acceptance. Smith on Contracts, 71, note (a). The purchaser of goods may, on receiving them from the seller, accept them, or return them as not answering the contract. If he neglect to return them within a reasonable time, or to give notice to the seller that he does not intend to take them, he is considered as having accepted them, and will be held to the purchase. So, the drawee of a bill of exchange may, on receiving it, either accept it, or return it without acceptance; and the same distinction has been made between the receipt and the acceptance of a deed. Ersk. Inst. b. 3. tit. 2. § 45. ACCEPTANCE of a Bill of Exchange. [L. Lat. acceptatio.] In mercantile law. The act by which the person on whom a bill of exchange is drawn, (called the drawee,) assents to the request of the drawer to pay it, or, in other words, engages, or makes himself liable to pay it, when due. 4 East, 51, 72. 2 Bl. Com. 469. It may be by parol, or in writing, and either general or special, absolute or conditional; and it may be impliedly, as well as expressly given. 3 Kent's Com. 83, 85. Story on Bills, §§ 242 — 244. But the usual and regular mode of acceptance is by the drawee's writing across the face of the bill the word "accepted," and subscribing his name; after which he is termed the acceptor. Id. § 243. See Acceptor. Acceptance au besoin. Fr.

In French law. Acceptance in case of need; an acceptance by one on whom a bill is drawn au besoin, that is, in case of refusal or failure of the drawee to accept. Story on Bills, §§ 66, 254, 255. Acceptance supra protest.

In mercantile law. Acceptance over protest. An acceptance of a bill by a third person, after protest for non-acceptance by the drawee; such acceptance being for the honor of the drawer, or of some particular endorser. 3 Kent's Com. 87. Story on Bills, § 121. Called in French law, acceptance par intervention. Id. § 256.

IMPLIED, contracts. An agreement to pay a bill, not by direct and express terms, but by such acts of the parties from which an express agreement may be inferred; for example, if the drawee write on it “seen,” “ presented,” or any other thing upon it, (as the day on which it becomes due,) this, unless explained by other circumstances, will constitute an acceptance.