Bills of Exchange Act 1961 (ACT 55)

This section defines when an instrument counts as a bill of exchange and says certain defects do not make it invalid.

This section defines what counts as an inland bill and a foreign bill, and lets the holder treat a bill as inland unless the bill shows otherwise on its face.

If the drawer and drawee are the same person, or the drawee is fictitious or lacks capacity, the holder may choose to treat the instrument as either a bill of exchange or a promissory note.

The drawee must be named or otherwise identified in a bill with reasonable certainty.

If a bill is not payable to bearer, the payee must be identified with reasonable certainty.

A bill is not negotiable if it forbids transfer or shows an intent not to be transferable; otherwise, negotiable bills may be payable to order or to bearer.

This section says when a bill’s payable amount counts as a “sum certain,” how to resolve conflicts between words and figures, and when interest starts running.

A bill is payable on demand if it says so, is payable at sight or on presentation, or has no time for payment stated.

A bill counts as payable at a determinable future time if it is payable after a fixed period or after a certain event that will happen; a contingent instrument is not a bill.

If an undated bill is payable after date or after sight, the holder may insert the true date, and the bill is then payable accordingly.

This section says a dated bill, acceptance, or endorsement is presumed to bear the true date unless the contrary is proved, and a bill is not invalid just because it is ante-dated, post-dated, or dated on a Sunday.

This section explains how to calculate when a bill is due and payable, including days of grace and how weekends or non-business days affect payment dates.

The drawer or an endorser may name a person the holder can turn to if the bill is dishonoured, and the holder may choose whether to use that person.

The drawer of a bill or any endorser may add an express stipulation to limit or remove their liability to the holder, or to waive some or all of the holder’s duties toward them.

A bill is accepted by the drawee assenting to the drawer’s order, and the acceptance is valid only if it is written on the bill, signed by the drawee, and does not promise performance by any means other than payment of money.

A holder may be entitled to have a bill treated as accepted from the date it was first presented for acceptance, if the bill was dishonoured by non-acceptance and later accepted, unless there is a different agreement.

This section says an acceptance is either general or qualified.

A signed blank stamped paper can be completed as a bill, and a person in possession of an incomplete bill may fill in missing details.

A bill’s delivery is only effective if made by or under the authority of the drawer, acceptor, or endorser; delivery may also be shown to have been conditional or for a special purpose.

Capacity to be liable on a bill matches capacity to contract, with a special limit for corporations. If an infant or an incapable corporation draws or endorses a bill, the holder can receive payment and enforce the bill against other parties.

A person is not liable as drawer, endorser, or acceptor of a bill unless the bill is signed as such.

A forged or unauthorised signature on a bill has no legal effect, and rights to keep, discharge, or enforce payment through it cannot be acquired, except where the other party is barred from relying on the forgery or lack of authority.

A signature by procuration signals that the agent has limited authority to sign.

A person who signs a bill as drawer, endorser, or acceptor may avoid personal liability if the signature clearly shows they are signing for a principal or in a representative capacity.

This section says what can count as value for a bill and when a holder is treated as a holder for value.

A person who signs a bill as drawer, acceptor, or endorser without value, to lend their name to another person, is an accommodation party and is liable on the bill to a holder for value.

A holder becomes a holder in due course only if the bill is complete and regular, taken before it is overdue, without notice of dishonour, in good faith, and for value.

A signed bill is presumed to have been taken for value, and a holder is presumed to be a holder in due course unless fraud, duress, force, fear, or illegality is shown.

This section explains when a bill is negotiated and how different kinds of bills are transferred.

An endorsement is only effective for negotiation if it is written and signed as required, covers the whole bill, and follows the rules for multiple payees and special cases.

If a bill is conditionally endorsed, the payer may ignore the condition and payment to the endorsee remains valid even if the condition was not met.

This section explains blank and special endorsements, and allows a holder to turn a blank endorsement into a special endorsement.

A restrictive endorsement limits how a bill can be negotiated and gives the endorsee payment and lawsuit rights, but usually not the power to transfer those rights unless expressly allowed.

This section explains when a bill remains negotiable, when an overdue or dishonoured bill affects title, and that a holder in due course is preserved in one case.

If a bill is negotiated back to the drawer, a prior endorser, or the acceptor, that party may re-issue or further negotiate it, but cannot enforce payment against an intervening party previously liable to them.

A holder of a bill may sue in his own name, and a holder in due course may enforce payment and is protected from certain title defects and personal defences.

Some bills must be presented for acceptance before payment, and presentment for acceptance is necessary in certain cases to fix maturity or protect liability.

When a bill payable after sight is negotiated, the holder must present it for acceptance or negotiate it within a reasonable time.

A holder must present a bill for acceptance to the drawee, or an authorised person, at a reasonable hour on a business day and before it is overdue.

If a bill is properly presented for acceptance and is not accepted in the customary time, the presenter must treat it as dishonoured by non-acceptance.

A bill is dishonoured by non-acceptance if acceptance is refused or cannot be obtained after proper presentment, or if presentment is excused and the bill is not accepted.

The holder of a bill may refuse a qualified acceptance and may treat the bill as dishonoured if an unqualified acceptance is not obtained.

A bill must be properly presented for payment, and the section sets the time, place, and person who must make presentment.

The holder may be excused for delayed presentment for payment in limited cases, but must present the bill with reasonable diligence once the delay ends.

A bill is treated as dishonoured for non-payment if payment is refused or cannot be obtained on proper presentment, or if presentment is excused and the bill is overdue and unpaid.

If a bill is dishonoured by non-acceptance or non-payment, notice must be given to the drawer and each endorser.

Notice of dishonour must be given according to specific rules about who may give it, who must receive it, and when it must be sent.

This section excuses late or omitted notice of dishonour in specified cases, and requires notice to be given with reasonable diligence once the delay ends.

This section says when bills of exchange may or must be noted or protested after dishonour, and where and when protest must be done.

A bill holder who presents a bill for payment must show the bill to the person demanding payment, and must hand it over to the payer once it is paid.

A bill by itself does not assign funds held by the drawee, and a drawee who does not accept as required is not liable on the bill.

An acceptor of a bill must pay it as accepted and cannot deny certain facts about the drawer or endorsement to a holder in due course.

A drawer or endorser of a bill may have to pay compensation if the bill is dishonoured, and they cannot deny certain facts to protected holders.

A person who signs a bill as neither drawer nor acceptor is liable as an endorser to a holder in due course.

If a bill is dishonoured, the holder or a paying drawer/endorser may recover specified damages, including the bill amount, interest, and certain expenses; dishonoured abroad bills use a re-exchange rule.

A bearer bill transferred by delivery without endorsement makes the transferor a “transferor by delivery”; that transferor is not liable on the instrument and gives warranties to the immediate transferee for value.

A bill is discharged if paid in due course by the drawee, acceptor, or party accommodated; other payers get limited follow-on rights.

A banker paying a demand bill in good faith and in the ordinary course of business does not have to prove the endorsements were authorized, even if an endorsement was forged.

A banker may pay a presented draft or order to the bearer if it appears endorsed by the payee, and the banker does not have to prove the endorsement was authorized.

If the acceptor of a bill becomes the holder of the bill at or after maturity in his own right, the bill is discharged.

A holder can renounce rights or liabilities on a bill, and an absolute, unconditional renunciation can discharge the bill; the renunciation must be in writing unless the bill is handed to the acceptor.

A bill is discharged if the holder or the holder’s agent intentionally cancels it and the cancellation is apparent.

A materially altered bill is generally avoided unless all liable parties assented; a holder in due course can still rely on an unapparently altered bill.

A person who is not already liable on a protested bill may, with the holder’s consent and if the bill is not overdue, accept it supra protest for honour. That acceptance is valid only if written on the bill, states that it is an acceptance for honour, and is signed by the acceptor for honour.

An acceptor for honour must pay the bill on due presentment if the drawee does not pay, provided the bill was duly presented, protested for non-payment, and notice was received.

A dishonoured bill must be protested before it is presented to the acceptor for honour, and presentment must be made or forwarded by the day after maturity.

A person may pay a protested bill for another party’s honour, and the payer can later get the bill and protest if they pay the amount and related notarial expenses.

If a bill is lost before it is overdue, the former holder may ask the drawer for a duplicate, and may need to give security if required.

In an action or proceeding on a bill, the court may order that the loss of the instrument cannot be raised as an issue if indemnity is given to the court’s satisfaction.

Rules for bills drawn in a set: the parts count as one bill, acceptance must be on one part only, and certain parties may be liable if different parts are endorsed, negotiated, accepted, or paid in conflicting ways.

This section says which country’s law controls different issues for bills drawn in one country and used in another.

A cheque is defined as a bill of exchange drawn on a banker and payable on demand.

A cheque should be presented within a reasonable time; delay can discharge the drawer/person to the extent of actual damage, and the cheque holder can recover that amount from the banker.

A banker’s duty and authority to pay a customer’s cheque depend on countermand of payment or notice of the customer’s death.

This section defines when a cheque is crossed generally or specially.

The drawer, holder, or banker may add or change a cheque crossing in the ways listed here.

A crossing authorised by the Act is a material part of a cheque, and no one may obliterate it or change it except as authorised by the Act.

A banker must refuse payment of certain specially crossed cheques, and may be liable if it pays them wrongly; good-faith payment without negligence is protected in some cases.

A banker who pays a crossed cheque in good faith and without negligence gets the same protection as if payment had been made to the true owner; the drawer gets the same protection if the cheque has reached the payee.

A person who takes a crossed cheque marked “not negotiable” cannot give a better title to it than the person who transferred it had.

A banker acting in good faith and without negligence is protected from liability to the true owner when paying or receiving payment of a cheque for a customer with no title or a defective title.

Sections 75 to 81 apply, so far as applicable, to certain other instruments treated like cheques.

This section defines what counts as a promissory note, inland note, and foreign note.

A promissory note is not complete until it has been delivered to the payee or bearer.

A promissory note may be made by two or more makers, and they may be liable jointly or jointly and severally depending on the note’s wording.

An endorsed note payable on demand must be presented for payment within a reasonable time after endorsement.

A promissory note payable at a particular place must be presented there for the maker to be liable; for an endorser, presentment for payment is required, with special rules for the place of presentment.

The maker of a promissory note must pay it according to its tenor and cannot deny the payee’s existence or capacity to endorse to a holder in due course.

This section says the rules for bills of exchange generally apply to promissory notes, with necessary modifications, but some bill provisions do not apply.

A thing counts as done in good faith if it is actually done honestly, even if it was negligent.

A required signature can be satisfied by another person signing under authority, and a corporation may satisfy a signing requirement by using its corporate seal.

If the Act gives less than three days to do something, non-business days are not counted.

This section says which days count as non-business days and gives the President power to prescribe additional non-business days by legislative instrument.

A bill or note can be noted for protest in time, and that noting is sufficient where a protest is required.

If a bill or note must be protested but no notary is available where it was dishonoured, certain local persons may sign a certificate attesting the dishonour.

Common law, including the law merchant, continues to apply to bills of exchange, promissory notes, and cheques unless inconsistent with this Act.

This section defines key terms used in the Act, such as acceptance, bill, delivery, holder, issue, note, and value.

Statutes and statutory provisions listed in the Second Schedule stop applying in Ghana, to the extent they apply there.

This section repeals the Bills of Exchange Ordinance (Cap. 195).