negotiable instrument
Defined in 2 dictionaries — Case Law, Cyclopedic (1922)
Definitions from Case Law
From 74 U.S. 392 - Railroad Company v. Howard · 1868Most cited · 163 citing opinions
Written contracts are not necessarily negotiable simply because by their terms they enure to the benefit of the bearer. Doubtless the certificates were assignable, and they would have been so if the word bearer had been omitted, but they were not negotiable instruments in the sense supposed by the appellants. Holders might transfer them, but the assignees took them subject to every equity in the hands of the original owner.
The Cyclopedic Law Dictionary
Walter A. Shumaker and George Foster Longsdorf; ed. James C. Cahill · 1922
Any written instrument which may be transferred by indorsement and delivery, or by delivery alone, so as to give the indorsee the legal title, and enable him to sue in his own name. 15 Mo. 337.
In a narrower sense, those instruments the indorsee of which, under the law merchant, takes free of certain equities and defenses between the. original parties.