Early History of the Law of Bills and Notes: A Study of the Origins of Anglo-American Commercial Law
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A history of an important branch of English commercial law, the law of bills and notes.
PrefaceTable of cases and precedentsNote on citationIntroduction11The central courts, commercial law, and the law merchant12Commercial cases in the central courts12The law merchant in the mercantile courts20The law merchant in the central courts272Early exchange transactions: commercial practice32Exchange transactions as means of funds transfer32Exchange transactions as finance36The dual functions of exchange413Early exchange transactions: private law44Exchange contracts in the mercantile courts44Exchange contracts in the Admiralty Court51Exchange contracts in the common law courts544Early exchange transactions: public law and policy69The debate over usury in exchange70The exchange controversy in England75The significance of the public controversy over exchange885From exchange transactions to bills of exchange: the transformation of commercial practice94The era of exchange transactions and the era of bills of exchange94The middleman economy and the development of inland bills100The economic functions of bills in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries1086The custom of merchants and the development of the law of bills125Actions on bills versus actions on exchange contracts125Development of pleadings for actions on bills127The significance of the changes in pleading131The role of the custom of merchants1377The civilians and the law of bills in the seventeenth century151Civilian literature on the law merchant and exchange151The political context of the seventeenth-century English literature on the law merchant153A genuine but unsuccessful effort to incorporate civilian law160The impossibility of incorporation1648Transferability and negotiability170Transferability170The promissory notes cases: drawing the boundary between the law of bills and the general law of obligations177Rights of bona fide holders1869The law of bills and notes in the eighteenth century194Acceptance195Delay in presentment and notice of dishonour202Lord Mansfield and the law of bills21010The problem of accommodation bills223The Livesey bankruptcy and accommodation bills223The economic context of the accommodation bills cases228The judicial response to accommodation bills232The accommodation bills controversy as an illustration of the role of law in economic controversies246Conclusion250Bibliography253Index265
