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SECRETARIAL PRACTICE
Inland and The distinction between an inland bill or note and a
Foreign Bills. foreign bill or note is explained in s. 36 of the Act of 1897,
which is as follows: —

A bill of exchange or promissory note which purports
to be drawn or made out of the United Kingdom is
for the purpose of determining the mode in which
the stamp duty thereon is to be denoted to be deemed
to have been so drawn or made, although it may in
fact have been drawn or made within the United
Kingdom.

There is not any similar provision with regard to a bill

or note which is in fact drawn or made out of the United
Kingdom, but purports to be drawn or made within the
United Kingdom. The stamp duty on such a bill or note
should be denoted by the adhesive stamp applicable to a
foreign bill or note.

Sir M. D. Chalmers, in his work on the Bills of Exchange

Act, summarises the effect of the Stamp Act as follows: —
‘Bills payable on demand, whether inland or foreign, may be
stamped with either adhesive or impressed stamps, though of
course a foreign bill would not be likely to be on an impressed
stamp; foreign notes of all kinds and foreign bills payable
otherwise than on demand must be stamped with adhesive
stamps; inland notes of all kinds and inland bills payable
otherwise than on demand must be drawn on impressed
stamps.’

Penalties for S. 38 (1) provides that ‘every person who issues, indorses,
[ssuing transfers, negotiates, presents for payment, or pays, any bill
Dnstamped of exchange or promissory note liable to duty and not being
’ duly stamped shall incur a fine of £10, and the person who
takes or receives from any other person any such bill or note
either in payment or as security, or by purchase or otherwise,
shall not be entitled to recover thereon, or to make the same
available for any purpose whatever.” The only qualification
of this provision is that contained in s. 38 (2) already quoted

relating to bills chargeable with the fixed duty of 24.
Exemptions There are eleven exemptions from the charge of duty
trom Duty on ypon bills of exchange and promissory notes. The most
Lin A important of them relate to the business of banking and to
the business of public departments. These latter include
an exemption in favour of a ‘bill drawn in the United Kingdom
for the sole purpose of remitting money to be placed to any
account of public revenue.” This exemption was the subject
of a decision [Committee of London Clearing Bankers Vv.
Inland Revenue (1806), 1 O.B. 222] in which it was