The Gazette 1946-49

of the cheque a right against the banker who has marked it." Hart's Law of Banks 4th Edition, Vol i, Page 541. " In trie absence of English authority it is difficult to say what is the exact legal effect in this country ot marking cheques ; but it is submitted that such marking is not equivalent to an acceptance by the banker, and that notwithstanding s. 75 of the Bills of Exchange Act, 1882, the customer who has requested his banker to mark a cheque cannot countermand its payment. It has been suggested that the banker would be bound to honour rhe cheque on the ground of estoppel, if any one dealt with his client on the faith of the marking and wire thereby damnified." Grant's Law of Banks, 7th Edition, Page 43. "It was formerly the practice in this country to use marked cheques for making payments against documents of title, but, though the practice cannot be said to be obsolete, it is more usual at the present day to make such payments by means of transfer cheques at the Bank of England or bankers' drafts ...... If the marking is not an acceptance it is difficult to see on what grounds the banker can be held liable." (Byles on Bills, zoth Edn Page 21). PUBLIC HEALTH ACT, 1947 Section 33. Where— (a) a person sells or lets a dwelling in which to his knowledge a person has been re siding at any time during the preceding three months while suffering from an infectious disease, and (£) he did not before selling or letting the dwelling give in the prescribed manner an infected premises notice to the district medical officer for the district in which the dwelling is situated, he shall be guilty of an offence under this section and shall be liable on summary conviction thereof to a fine not exceeding fifty pounds or, at the dis cretion of the Court, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months or to both such fine and such imprisonment. Section 34- Where— (a) the occupier of a dwelling (not being the owner thereof) ceases to occupy the dwell ing, and (b) a person has, to the knowledge o< the occupier, been residing in the dwelling at any time during the preceding three months while suffering from an infectious disease, and (f) the occupier did not either before or immediately after ceasing to occupy the

sub-section, and the instrument contained a certifi cate to that effect. It was pointed out to the Revenue Commissioners by the Council that this in effect would mean that every conveyance on sale stamped at the lower rate would have to be adjudged duly stamped, as a subsequent purchaser would not be Entitled to rely on the certificate in the deed as conclusive evidence that it was properly stamped at the lower rate. Following the representations by the Council, the Minister for Finance on the Committee Stage accepted an amendment to sub section 13 (4) the effect of which is that the exemp tion of an instrument from the higher rate of duty depends not upon the fact that the grantee or trans feree falls within the exempted categories, but upon the incorporation in the instrument of a certificate to the effect mentioned in the sub-section. In other words a subsequent purchaser is not bound to inquire as to the accuracy or otherwise of the statements in the certificate provided that the form of the certificate is in accordance with Section 13 (4). • CALENDAR AND LAW DIRECTORY, 1948 MEMBERS who have not already sent in an order form for the Calendar should do so immediately if they wish to secure a copy. Price 7/6, Post Free 8/- EFFECT OF GUARANTEED CHEQUES THE Irish Law Times and Solicitors' Journal ot September zyth contained a review of Paget's Law of Banking, jth Edition, published by Butterworth & Co.—price 255. The review printed the following extract from the book : " It may be taken that the marking of a cheque at the instance of a customer does not in this country involve any direct or immediate liability on the part of thr Banker to the payee or any subsequent holder of the cheque. The marking does not possess the essential char acteristics of an acceptance required by the Bills of Exchange Act." Solicitors completing sales on behalf of vendors usually accept a Bank draft or a cheque " marked good " by a bank in exchange for the title deeds and when accepting a marked cheque undoubtedly assume that it is as good as a Banker's draft. The passage from the standard work quoted above clearly implies that this assump tion is incorrect. The following are passages from other standard works on the subject: " A custom has grown up among bankers themselves of marking cheques as good for the purposes of clearance, by which they become bound to one another. As between the bankers themselves, accordingly, this marking has an effect analogous to that of the acceptance of a bill, but it does not give the holder

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