Bill of sale

“ A common method of procedure, when [Pg 103] a sale is made on time, is the drawing of a bill for the amount due, by the seller upon the buyer, payable at the end of the credit period agreed upon, and accepted by the buyer, and the discount of the bill by the seller's bank. In foreign and in some branches of domestic trade, the banker's bill is used on account of its more general acceptability as an object of discount, such bills usually being discountable by the central bank and by banks far distant from the place in which the bill originated. ”

“ And as this bill of sale is recorded in the collector's office in which the new permanent registry is made, it affords information to any person examining it as to the former home port and collector's office in which the vessel had been previously registered, and where examination can be made for any bill of sale, mortgage, or other incumbrance, upon or against the vessel. ”

“ But we consider the true rule to be, that, where it is the object of the bill to procure a sale of the land, and the prior encumbrancer holds the legal title, and his debt is payable, it is proper to make him a party in order that a sale may be made of the whole title. ”

“ The courts of New York have got over these difficulties, by adjudicating, that whenever the note or bill, in its inception, was a real transaction, so that the payee or promisee might, at maturity, maintain a suit upon it, a transfer by indorsement, on a discount, though beyond the legal rate of interest, shall be regarded as a sale of the note or bill, and a valid and legal transaction. ”

“ The notes and checks which passed between the factors and the bank were but forms to carry out the main purpose of the transaction between them, and did not change its nature or effect.
By the common law, a factor or agent for sale has no power to pledge, whether the owner has intrusted him with the possession of the goods themselves, or with the symbol of them, as by consigning them to him by a bill of lading in which he is consignee or indorsee. ”

“ But an acceptor of a bill of exchange stands in the same position as the maker of a promissory note. If he has purchased on credit, and is denied possession until he shall make payment, the transaction ceases to be what it was intended, and is converted into a cash sale. Everybody understands that a sale on credit entitles the purchaser to immediate possession of the property sold, unless there be a special agreement that it may be retained by the vendor ”

“ And the purchase, discount, or sale, or a bona fide bill of exchange, payable at another place than the place of such purchase, discount, or sale, at not more than the current rate of exchange for sight drafts in addition to the interest, shall not be considered as taking or receiving a greater rate of interest. ”

“ II. The bill of parcels constitutes a contract known as a bargain and sale, by force of which the title to the property passed, without delivery, without payment of the price. It purports on its face a sale in presenti.
III. The paper signed by the defendant, dated 19th September, (Record, p. 11,) is a sufficient compliance with the statute of frauds, and the first position taken, and the first instruction asked in the court below, should have been sustained. ”

“ If such owner of the improvements on any lot fails within sixty days to purchase and make the first payment on same, such lot, with the improvements thereon, shall be sold at public auction to the highest bidder, under the direction of the aforesaid commission, and the purchaser at such sale shall pay to the owner of the improvements the price for which said lot shall be sold, less sixty-two and one half per cent of said appraised value of the lot and shall pay the sixty-two and one half per cent of said appraised value into the United States Treasury. ”

“ A bill of lading is no more effectual to pass property than any other instrument, except that it is negotiable. A buyer under it, for value, without notice, may hold against all other or intermediate rights. 2 Holt, 72.
Property in goods, shipped under a bill of lading, may be transferred by delivery, to a third person, without endorsement of the bill of lading; and such transfer will be good, against all the world, except the endorser of a bill of lading, for a valuable consideration. ”

“ A learned author says, 'If any one of the ingredients be wanting, there is no sale.' Atkinson on Sales, 5. Benjamin on Sales, p. 1, note, and p. 2, says, 'To constitute a valid sale, there must be (1) parties competent to contract; (2) mutual assent; (3) a thing, the absolute or general property in which is transferred from the seller to the buyer, (4) a price in money, paid or promised.'
How, then, can there be a sale of seven hundred and five packs of iron, unless there be a purchase of it? How can there be a seller, unless there be likewise a purchaser? ”

“ The extent of a man's actual sales forms some limit to the amount of his real notes; and as it is highly desirable in commerce that credit should be dealt out to all persons in some sort of regular and due proportion, the measure of a man's actual sales, certified by the appearance of his bills drawn in virtue of those sales, is some rule in the case, though a very imperfect one in many respects.
"A fictitious bill, or bill of accommodation, is evidently in substance the same as any common promissory note ”

“ Now, the subject upon which Congress attempted by this clause to legislate was the rights of the highest bidder for a stall, under a purchase for a term of years, and not the rights of a purchaser under a bid for an indefinite period, terminable only at his will. Nothing else was in view of the legislature. No other sale had been spoken of. ”

“ If they are to be paid by the vendor, or one who has succeeded to the place of the vendor by indorsement of the draft and bill of lading, he fails to obtain the price for which the goods were sold.
That the holder of a bill of lading, who has become such by indorsement and by discounting the draft drawn against the consigned property, succeeds to the situation of the shipper, is not to be doubted. He has the same right to demand acceptance of the accompanying bill, and no more. ”

“ Every inhabitant of the republic who sells goods to the value of over $20 must give to the buyer "an invoice, note, or other document accrediting the purchase," and affix to the same, and cancel, a stamp corresponding to the value of the sale. Sales at retail are exempt from this tax; and retail sales are defined to be "sales made with a single buyer, whose value does not exceed $20. ”

“ They frequently allow their customer, the buyer, to take the bill of lading, indorsed, for the purpose of entering the goods at the Custom House, or warehousing them, or even for the purpose of selling the goods, so that the buyer will be in funds to enable him to discharge his debt to the banker. ”

“ Whether a particular bill has been taken for discount or collection is a question of fact. As in the payment of bills, so in the collection of them, there is no statutory protection whatever for the banker; as against third parties he can only rely either on the customer’s title or his own as a holder for value, if no forged endorsement intervene and he can establish a consideration. ”

“ A dealer who has sold goods, for which he is to be paid in six months, but who desires to receive payment sooner, draws a bill on his debtor payable in six months, and gets the bill discounted by a banker or other money-lender, that is, transfers the bill to him, receiving the amount, minus interest for the time it has still to run. It has become one of the chief functions of bills of exchange to serve as a means by which a debt due from one person can thus be made available for obtaining credit from another. ”

“ With the investment of the proceeds of the sale the purchaser under the decree had no concern. A purchaser at a judicial sale is not bound in any case to see to the application of the purchase-money. That is under the control of the court ”

“ Now, by means of bills of lading, the seller is enabled to keep his hold on the goods until he receives the price, and the buyer is enabled to secure possession of the goods as soon as he pays the price. ”

“ A purely personal bond arises thereby between seller and buyer. But complete or executed contract of sale effects a transfer of ownership with all the advantages and risks incident thereto. By an agreement to sell a jus in personam is created; by a sale a jus in rem is transferred. The essence of sale is the transfer of property for a price. If there be no agreement for a price, express or implied, the transaction is gift, not sale, and is regulated by its own peculiar rules and considerations. ”

“ But should the seller of a field, after having sold it to a second person, and after having received a part of the purchase price of the field from him, without consultation or notification, and without giving this second person a chance to make the final payments on the field, sell it to another, he must repay to the first purchaser double the amount of the partial payments made by the first purchaser to the date of the sale. ”

“ It will watch with patience for hours till a fish or a frog comes within its reach, when it stretches out its long neck suddenly, and snatches up its prey with its sharp bill. It mostly prefers to stand under the shadow of a tree, bush, or bank; and from its perfect stillness, and the sober colour of its plumage, it seems often to escape the observation even of the fish themselves. ”

“ It is a power which every prudent owner would exercise in his own behalf under the circumstances supposed, and which he may well be presumed to intend to confer on another. This power of sale does not undertake to prescribe the particular manner of making the sale. It is to be at public auction, and 'after having given public notice of such sale by advertisement at least thirty days;' but it assumes that the sale will be conducted as such sales are usually conducted. ”

“ So a sale upon credit, instead of being for ready money, under a general authority to sell, and in a trade where the usage is to sell for ready money only, creates to contract between the owner and the buyer, and the thing sold may be recovered in an action of trover. ”

“ A retail dealer who owes no debts may lawfully sell his entire stock without giving the required notice. One who is indebted may make a valid sale without such notice, by paying his debts, even after the sale is made. ”

“ In the first class, the 'owner or holder,' &c., shall have a right to receive and recover so much current money as will purchase a good bill of exchange of the same time of payment, and upon the same place, at the current exchange of such bills, and also fifteen per cent. damages upon the value of the principal sum mentioned in such bill, and costs of protest, together with legal interest upon the value of the principal sum mentioned in such bill, from the time of protest, until the principal and damages are paid and satisfied. ”

“ Stable and immutable rules are necessary to give confidence to those who receive such securities in the usual course of business, when indorsed in blank, or made payable to bearer, so that if such a bill or note is made without consideration, or be lost or stolen, and afterwards be negotiated for value to one having no knowledge of such facts, in the usual course of business, his title shall be good, and he shall be entitled to collect the amount. ”

“ Commercial rules everywhere require that to fix the liability of the drawer of a bill of exchange or the indorser of a bill or note there must be a legal presentment of the instrument to the acceptor or maker, or payment must be demanded of such a party on the day the instrument becomes payable. ”

“ Wherefore your respondent prays that an accounting may be had and taken in the premises, that the amount of the bonds outstanding in the hands of bona fide holders for value may be determined; that the extent of the lien of each may be judicially determined, and upon the final determination of the matters, and not before, that an order of sale may be issued to sell the mortgaged premises ”

“ Ten per cent of the purchase money must be paid at the time of sale, and the balance, (with the expenses of the survey, if the purchaser did not make the deposit) , within one calendar month from the day of sale: in default of which, the ten per cent so paid, will be forfeited to the Colonial Treasury. ”

“ And if any person shall, after the said first day of January next, by virtue or colour of any such license or special authority as aforesaid, make any sale or sales at auction without having given bond as aforesaid, within the time for that purpose prescribed, or without renewing such bond upon the expiration and renewal of any such license or special authority, he shall forfeit and pay, for every such sale by him made, the sum of four hundred dollars, together with the sums or duties payable by this act upon the goods, wares, and merchandise so sold. ”

“ Those persons who are desirous of purchasing will be allowed to select, within certain defined limits, such portions of land as they may wish to acquire in that manner. These portions of land will be advertised for sale for three calendar months, and will then be sold to the highest bidder, provided that such bidding shall at least amount to the price fixed by Article 2. ”

“ The dealer in bills of exchange requires capital and credit. He generally draws the instrument, or it is drawn at his instance, when he is desirous of purchasing it. The bill is worth more or less, as the rate of exchange shall be between the place where it is drawn and where it is made payable. ”

“ It is essential, to constitute a legal demand of payment of a bill or note, that it should be presented to the acceptor at the time the demand is made, or, in other words, that the person who makes the demand should have the bill with him. ”