Murray v. Beckwith

Citations

• 81 Ill. 43

Syllabus

<p>1. Assignee before maturity—how far protected. Where the maker of a negotiable instrument puts it in circulation, and it is negotiated before due, and passes into the hands of third parties for a valid consideration, the maker can not be permitted to defeat payment, unless he establishes the fact that the holder purchased with notice of his defense.</p> <p>2. Same—assignee not bound to call on maker and make inquiry before purchasing. A party about to take an assignment of a promissory note is under no obligation to call upon the maker and make inquiry before purchasing the same, even though he lives in the same place with the maker, and the note is nearly due and is offered to him at a discount, and he knows that the maker is solvent.</p> <p>3. The payee of a promissory note called on a person residing in the same place with the maker, three days before its maturity, and represented to him that he was going to Philadelphia to take up paper which he owed, and that he needed money or paper not due for that purpose; that the note he then held would become due before he reached Philadelphia, and he could not use overdue paper, and thereupon sold and assigned the note to such person at a discount of three per cent, taking his note for the amount, due in thirty days: Held, that these were not such circumstances as would charge the assignee with notice of any defense to the note.</p>