Payment in due course
REQUISITES FOR PAYMENT IN DUE COURSE
1. Payment must be made at or after the date of maturity
2. Payment must be to the holder
3. Payment must be made by the debtor in good faith and without notice that his title is defective
• If payment is made before maturity, it would constitute a negotiation back to the person primarily liable and he can renegotiate it. Payment doesn’t discharge the instrument.
• Payment to indorsee who is not in possession of the instrument is not payment to a person other than the holder is at the risk of the party so paying if the person wasn’t authorized by the holder to receive payment. So also, the payment to the original payee after the note had been transferred by him to a holder in due course doesn’t discharge the note
• Payment to a person by the debtor who knows that such person stole it, is not payment in due course, as such payment is not in good faith. The maker of a note or the acceptor of a bill must satisfy himself, when it is presented for payment, that the holder traces his title through genuine indorsements, and if there is a forged indorsement, it is a nullity and no right passes by it
PAYMENT MUST BE MADE TO POSSESSOR OF INSTRUMENT
• The party making payment must insist on the presentment of the paper by the party demanding payment in order to make sure that it is at the time in his possession and not outstanding in another
• A receipt taken is no protection
• If at the time he makes payment, it is outstanding and in the hands of a holder in due course, he must pay it again
• Possession of notes by the maker is presumptive evidence