
Cheques (Jersey)
Law 1957
A LAW relating to cheques and certain
other instruments
Commencement [see endnotes]
1 Protection of bankers paying unindorsed or irregularly indorsed
cheques, etc.
(1) Where a banker in good
faith and in the ordinary course of business pays a cheque drawn on the banker
which is not indorsed or is irregularly indorsed, the banker does not, in doing
so, incur any liability by reason only of the absence of, or irregularity in,
indorsement, and the banker is deemed to have paid it in due course.
(2) Where a banker in good
faith and in the ordinary course of business pays any such instrument as the
following, namely, –
(a) a
document issued by a customer of the banker which, though not a bill of
exchange, is intended to enable a person to obtain payment from the banker of
the sum mentioned in the document;
(b) a
draft payable on demand drawn by the banker upon himself or herself, whether
payable at the head office or some other office of the banker’s bank,
the banker does not, in doing so, incur any liability by reason only
of the absence of, or irregularity in, indorsement, and the payment discharges
the instrument.
2 Rights
of bankers collecting cheques not indorsed by holders
A banker who gives value for, or has a lien on, a cheque payable to order
which the holder delivers to the banker for collection without indorsing it,
has such (if any) rights as the banker would have had if, upon delivery, the
holder had indorsed it in blank.
3 Unindorsed
cheques as evidence of payment
(1) An unindorsed cheque
which appears to have been paid by the banker on whom it is drawn is evidence
of the receipt by the payee of the sum payable by the cheque.
(2) For the purposes of paragraph (1),
a copy of a cheque to which that paragraph applies is evidence of the cheque
if –
(a) the
copy is made by the banker in whose possession the cheque is after presentment;
and
(b) it
is certified by the banker to be a true copy of the original.[1]
4 Non-transferable cheques[2]
Where a cheque is
crossed and bears across its face the words “account payee” or “a/c
payee”, either with or
without the word “only”, the cheque shall not be transferable, but shall only be
valid as between the parties thereto.
5 Protection
of bankers collecting payment of cheques, etc.
(1) Where a banker, in good
faith and without negligence, –
(a) receives
payment for a customer of an instrument to which this Article applies; or
(b) having
credited a customer’s account with the amount of such an instrument,
receives payment thereof for himself or herself,
and the customer has no title, or a defective title, to the
instrument, the banker does not incur any liability to the true owner of the
instrument by reason only of having received payment thereof.
(2) This Article applies to
the following instruments, namely, –
(a) cheques
(including cheques which under Article 4
or otherwise are not transferable);
(b) any
document issued by a customer of a banker which though not a bill of exchange,
is intended to enable a person to obtain payment from that banker of the sum
mentioned in the document;
(c) any
document issued by a public officer which is intended to enable a person to
obtain payment from the Paymaster General or the King’s and Lord
Treasurer’s Remembrancer of the sum mentioned in the document but is not
a bill of exchange;
(d) any
draft payable on demand drawn by a banker upon himself or herself, whether
payable at the head office or some other office of the banker’s bank.[3]
(3) A banker is not to be
treated for the purposes of this Article as having been negligent by reason
only of the banker’s failure to concern himself or herself with absence
of, or irregularity in, indorsement of an instrument.
6 Interpretation
Expressions used in this Law to which a meaning is assigned by the Bills
of Exchange Act 1882 of the United Kingdom have the same meanings in this Law
as they have in that Act.
7 Citation
This Law may be cited as the Cheques (Jersey) Law 1957.