Page:A Collection of the Acts passed by the Governor General of India in Council, 1897.pdf/29

 1897.] (Received the assent of the Governor General on the 4th March 1897.)

An Act to amend the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881.

HEREAS it is expedient to amend the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 ; It is hereby enacted as follows :—

This Act may be called the Negotiable Instruments Act Amendment Act, 1897; and

It shall come into force at once.

2. To section 72 of. the said Act the following words shall be prefixed, namely, "Subject to the provisions of section 84 ".

3. For section 84 of the said Act the following section shall be substituted, namely:—

"84. (1) Where a cheque is not presented for payment within a reasonable time of its issue, and the drawer or person on whose account it is drawn had the right, at the time when presentment ought to have been made, as between himself and the banker, to have the cheque paid and suffers actual damage through the delay, he is discharged to the extent of such damage, that is to say, to the extent to which such drawer or person is a creditor of the banker to a larger amount than he would have been if such cheque had been paid.

(2) In determining what is a reasonable time, regard shall be had to the nature of the instrument, the usage of trade and of bankers, and the facts of the particular case. (3) The