Report No. 11
132. Section 76.-
In section 76, apart from some verbal changes, we have added some new clauses.1
(a) Where the drawee is a fictitious person, it is obvious that nobody can be held liable for non-presentment. The new clause (h) imports this rule from section 46(2)(b) of the English Act.
(b) There is no provision in our Act corresponding to section 46(2) of the English Act providing when presentment is not necessary to charge an indorser. This is now provided in the new clause (i).
(c) The principle which we find in paragraph 2 of section 61 of our Act with respect to presentment for acceptance should also apply as regards presentment for payment. We have, therefore, incorporated the new clause (j), following section 46(2)(a) of the English Act.
(d) No less important is the provision in the new clause (k), namely, that no question of presentment for payment should arise where a bill has been dishonoured for non-acceptance. This would follow from the principle embodied in section 43(2) of the English Act, which we have adopted,2 that when a bill is dishonoured by non-acceptance, an immediate right of recourse against the drawer and indorser accrues to the holder, and no presentment for payment is, accordingly, necessary.
An Explanation has been added at the end of the section to embody the rule in section 48(2) of the English Act laying down that the holder's belief that the instrument would be dishonoured even if presented does not absolve him from the duty to present.
1. Section 75, App I.
2. Section 122(2), App I.
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