Cases Determined by the St. Louis, Kansas City and Springfield Courts of Appeals of the State of Missouri Volume 144 (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1910 edition. Excerpt: ... and good conscience he ought to do; but when the transaction relates to commercial paper the desire to protect a bona fide holder of such paper has caused the courts to brush aside the salutary rules that govern in other matters and upon the false premise of the existence of a necessity to protect the holders of commercial paper have established a rule that often, in effect, protects the forger who may be expert enough to perform his nefarious work with such nicety as to deceive the ordinary business man. Under this rule the forger and his accomplices run no risk in the forgery itself. The only risk they incur is the risk of detection before the forged instrument can be gotten into the hands of an innocent holder. This done his work is complete and there is no recourse. We cannot give our sanction to such a rule and should not hesitate to repudiate it as many other courts have done but for the fact that this rule has come to be the settled law of this State in a way that will control our action until a different rule shall be adopted by a power that is superior to us, Applying this rule to this case the only question left is whether or not this rule applies to the maker of a negotiable promissory note. The weight of authority is that it does. Cooke v. U. S., 91 U. S. 389; Bank of U. S. v. Bank of Georgia, 10 Wheat 333; Johnston v. Commercial Bank, 27 W. Va. 343; 55 Amer. Rep. 315. If a bank is bound to know the signature of its depositors and on payment of a forged check to a holder in due course cannot recover it back, then, on principle, the maker of a check or promissory note should be held to know his own signature and if he pays it to a holder in due course should be in no better position than the drawee in a check. Therefore, the...