Stamp Act 1891

Bank Notes, Bills of Exchange, and Promissory Notes

29 Meaning of banker and bank note

For the purposes of this Act the expression "banker" means any person carrying on the business of banking in the United Kingdom, and the expression " Bank note " includes—

(a) Any bill of exchange or promissory note issued by any banker, other than the Bank of England, for the payment of money not exceeding one hundred pounds to the bearer on demand; and

(b) Any bill of exchange or promissory note so issued, which entitles or is intended to entitle the bearer or holder thereof, without indorsement or without any further or other indorsement than may be thereon at the time of the issuing thereof, to the payment of money not exceeding one hundred pounds on demand, whether the same be so expressed or not and in whatever form, and by whomsoever the bill or note is drawn or made.

30 Bank notes may be issued

A bank note issued duly stamped, or issued unstamped by a banker duly licensed or otherwise authorised to issue unstamped bank notes, may be from time to time re-issued without being liable to any stamp duty by reason of the re-issuing.

31 Penalties, for issuing or receiving an unstamped bank note

(1) If any banker, not being duly licensed or otherwise authorised to issue unstamped bank notes, issues, or permits to be issued, any bank note not being duly stamped, he shall incur a fine of fifty pounds.

(2) If any person receives or takes in payment or as a security any bank note issued unstamped contrary to law, knowing the same to have been so issued, he shall incur a fine of twenty pounds.

32 Meaning of "bill of exchange"

For the purposes of this Act the expression " bill of exchange " includes draft, order, cheque, and letter of credit, and any document or writing (except a bank note) entitling or purporting to entitle any person, whether named therein or not, to payment by any other person of, or to draw upon any other person for, any sum of money; and the expression " bill of exchange payable on demand " includes—

(a) An order for the payment of any sum of money by a bill of exchange or promissory note, or for the delivery of any bill of exchange or promissory note in satisfaction of any sum of money, or for the payment of any sum of money out of any particular fund which may or may not be available, or upon any condition or contingency which may or may not be performed or happen; and

(b) An order for the payment of any sum of money weekly, monthly, or at any other stated periods, and also an order for the payment by any person at any time after the date thereof of any sum of money, and sent or delivered by the person making the same to the person by whom the payment is to be made, and not to the person to whom the payment is to be made, or to any person on his behalf.

33 Meaning of "promissory note"

(1) For the purposes of this Act the expression " promissory note" includes any document or writing (except a bank note) containing a promise to pay any sum of money.

(2) A note promising the payment of any sum of money out of any particular fund which may or may not be available, or upon any condition or contingency which may or may not be performed or happen, is to be deemed a promissory note for that sum of money.

34 Provisions for use of adhesive stamps on bills and notes

(1) The fixed duty of one penny on a bill of exchange payable on demand or at sight or on presentation may be denoted by an adhesive stamp, which, where the bill is drawn in the United Kingdom, is to b& cancelled by the person by whom the bill is signed before he delivers it out of his hands, custody, or power.

(2) The ad valorem duties upon bills of exchange and promissory notes drawn or made out of the United Kingdom are to be denoted by adhesive stamps.

35 Provisions as to stamping foreign bills and notes

(1) Every person into whose hands any bill of exchange or promissory note drawn or made out of the United Kingdom, comes in the United Kingdom before it is stamped shall, before he presents for payment, Or indorses, transfers, or in any manner negotiates, or pays the bill or note, affix thereto a proper adhesive stamp or proper adhesive stamps of sufficient amount, and cancel every stamp so affixed thereto.

(2) Provided as follows:

(a) If at the time when any such bill or note comes into the hands of any bona fide holder there is affixed thereto an adhesive stamp effectually cancelled, the stamp shall, so far as relates to the holder, be deemed to be duly cancelled, although it may not appear to have been affixed or cancelled by the proper person;

(b) If at the time when any such bill or note comes into the hands of any bona fide holder bthere is affixed thereto an adhesive stamp not duly cancelled, it shall be competent for the holder to cancel the stamp as if he were the person by whom it was affixed, and upon his so doing the bill or note shall, be deemed duly stamped, and as valid and available as if the stamp had been cancelled by the person by whom it was affixed.

(3) But neither of the foregoing provisoes is to relieve any person from any fine or penalty incurred by him for not cancelling an adhesive stamp.

36 As to bills and notes purporting to be drawn abroad

A bill of exchange or promissory note which purports to be drawn or made out of the United Kingdom is, for the purpose of determining the mode in which the stamp duty thereon is to be denoted, to be deemed to have been so drawn or made, although it may in fact have been drawn or made within the United Kingdom.

37 Terms upon which bills and notes may be stamped after execution

(1) Where a bill of exchange or promissory note has been written on material bearing an impressed stamp of sufficient amount but of improper denomination, it may be stamped with the proper stamp on payment of the duty, and a penalty of forty shillings if the bill or note be not then payable according to its tenor, or of ten pounds if the same be so payable.

(2) Except as aforesaid, no bill of exchange or promissory note shall be stamped with an impressed stamp after the execution thereof.

38 Penalty for issuing, &c., any unstamped bill or note

(1) Every person who issues, indorses, transfers, negotiates, presents for payment, or pays any bill of exchange or promissory note liable to duty and not being duly stamped shall incur a fine of ten pounds, and the person who takes or receives from any other person any such bill or note either in payment or as a security, or by purchase or otherwise, shall not be entitled to recover thereon, or to make the same available for any purpose whatever.

(2) Provided that if any bill of exchange payable on demand or at sight or on presentation, is presented for payment unstamped, the person to whom it is presented may affix thereto an adhesive stamp of one penny, and cancel the same, as if he had been the drawer of the bill, and may thereupon pay the sum in the bill mentioned, and charge the duty in account against the person by whom the bill was drawn, or deduct the duty from the said sum, and the bill is, so far as respects the duty, to be deemed valid and available.

(3) But the foregoing proviso is not to relieve any person from any fine or penalty incurred by him in relation to such bill.

39 One bill only of a set need be stamped

When a bill of exchange is drawn in a set according to the custom of merchants, and one of the set is duly stamped, the other or others of the set shall, unless issued or in some manner negotiated apart from the stamped bill, be exempt from duty; and upon proof of the loss or destruction of a duly stamped bill forming one of a set, any other bill of the set which has not been issued or in any manner negotiated apart from the lost or destroyed bill may, although unstamped, be admitted in evidence to prove the contents of the lost or destroyed bill.