The instruments which require presentment for acceptance in order to hold certain parties upon them are classed under the head of bills of exchange; but not all bills of exchange need presentment for acceptance in order to fix the liability of parties to them. First, it will be necessary to indicate what instruments are bills of exchange, and then it will be necessary to show what bills of exchange need presentment for acceptance. Checks are not bills of exchange unless they are made payable after their date. A check is an order until its date, when it becomes an ordinary check. But a true post-dated check is one that shows upon its face that it is not payable until a day later than its date. Such a check is an inland bill of exchange, and as such is entitled to days of grace.8 But whether it is necessary to present it for acceptance must be determined by the rule applicable to bills of exchange. That rule is that a bill of exchange payable upon a fixed day need not be presented for acceptance;9 but if the bill of exchange or anything that falls under that classification is payable so many days after sight or after demand10 or at sight,11 presentment for acceptance is necessary in order to hold one who is entitled to claim a presentment for acceptance. Bills payable upon demand do not require presentation for acceptance for the reason that they have no days of grace.

1 See Sec. 150, ante.

2SeeSec. 150, ante.

3 See Sec. 161, ante, for the payment of money drawn upon a bank or banker.' It is of the essence of such an order that it be payable upon demand. It is needless to say that such a check does not need to be presented for acceptance, nor is it entitled to days of grace.2 A draft of one bank upon another is merely a check,3 though it be drawn in duplicate;4 even if it be payable upon sight, it is a check, not a bill of exchange.5 An order upon a banker for the payment of money in the usual form, whether drawn by a bank or other person, is payable upon demand, and is not an inland bill of exchange.6 But checks are sometimes post-dated. This word is used in two senses. A check in the ordinary form, signed and delivered before its date, is sometimes called a post-dated check, but that is a wrong use of the term. The only effect upon such a check of the date is that it is not payable until its date.7 But it does not become entitled to days of grace, nor is there any necessity for its presentment. It is simply of no effect

1 In re Brown, 2 Story, 502. But Industrial Bank v. Bowes, 165 111. 70, holds that an order upon an architect's certificate is a check, not a bill of exchange. The order was drawn not upon a banking house. The decision should have been put on the ground that the order was not a bill of exchange nor a check, but was simply the assignment of an account.

2 See the cases in note 8, infra. In re Brown, 2 Story, 502; Taylor v. 3Wilson, 11 Met. 44; Way v. Towle, 108 Mass. 374; Hawley v. Jette, 10 Oreg. 31; McDonald v. Stokey, 1 Mont. 388. And see cases cited in note 6, infra. Otherwise the rules governing checks and bills of exchange are practically the same, except as to the rights of the drawer, who can claim a demand only when he is injured by the delay. If injured, he is in the same position as the drawer of a bill. The general similarity of checks and bills of exchange is noticed in Merchants' Bank v. State Bank, 10 Wall. 604; Rogers v. Durant, 140 U. S. 298; Henshaw v. Root, 60 Ind. 220; Wood River Bank v. First Nat. Bank, 36 Neb. 744; Laird v. State, 61 Md. 309; Smith v. Janes, 20 Wend. 192.

3 Bull v. Kasson Bank, 123 U. S 105; First Nat. Bank v. Coates, 8 Fed. R 540; Merchants' Nat. Bank v. Ritzinger, 118 I1L 484; Harrison v. Wright, 100 Ind. 515.

4 Merchants' Nat. Bank v. Ritzinger, 118 111. 484

5Grammel v. Carmer, 55 Mich. 201.

6 Merchants' Bank v. State Bank, 10 Wall. 604; Exchange Bank v. Sutton Bank, 78 Md. 577; Roberta v. Austin, 26 Iowa, 315; McDonald v. Stokey, 1 Mont. 388; Harrison v. Wright. 100 Ind. 515.

7 See Sec. 152, ante, note 3.