STAMP DUTIES

365

settling for the present year’s tithes of the rectory of
Llambister [Braybrooke (Lord) v. Meredith, 13 Sim. 271].
2. Out of any balance which may be due to me after
final arrangement of the account I will thank you to pay
to George Parsons, Esq., £1077 (Parsons v. Middlefon,
 6 Hare 261).

[hese documents differ from those relating to the payment
of a debt to a third party in which questions have been
raised as to whether they are chargeable as assignments
or bills of exchange. The cases on this subject [see e.g,
Brice v. Bannister 3 Q.B.D. 569 and Buck v. Robson, ibid.
686] establish that an order from a creditor to his debtor to
pay to a third person and sent to the payee is an assignment
and not an order for the payment of money. Questions
have also arisen with regard to post-dated cheques, and there
have been several decisions. No objection can now be raised
to such a cheque, which is declared to be admissible as
evidence in an action brought after the date of the cheque
‘Royal Bank of Scotland v. Tottenham (1894), 2 Q.B. 715] and
similarly no objection can be taken to an ante-dated cheque.
S. 34 provides that the fixed duty of 2d. ‘may be denoted
by an adhesive stamp, which, where the bill is drawn in the
United Kingdom, is to be cancelled by the person by whom the
bill is signed before he delivers it out of his hands, custody, or
power’; and s. 38 (2) provides that if a bill charged with the
fixed duty of 2d. is presented for payment unstamped, ‘the
person to whom it is presented may affix thereto an adhesive
stamp and cancel the same 1 I he had been the drawer ol
the bill.’
The duties on foreign bills, if not previously paid, are
required by s. 35 of the Act to be paid by the holder thereof
before he presents for payment or endorses, transfers, or in
any manner negotiates or pays the bill or note.” These duties
are denoted by adhesive stamps which are required to be
cancelled by the person affixing them; but if they are not so
-ancelled they may afterwards be cancelled by any bona fide
holder.

Foreign Bills.

The duty on a bill of exchange or promissory note drawn
for money in any foreign or colonial currency is to be calculated
 according to the value on the day of the date of the
instrument of the money in British currency. This is
provided for by s. 6 of the Act of 1891, and the rate of exchange
 is determined in accordance with the provisions of
5. I2 of the Finance %c*:. *8ao