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The damages on protested bills of exchange vary, according to the laws peculiar to each State determining such matters. In some cases, the regulations of the separate States approximate to each other, while in others they are widely different. In some instances, the law or rule is unlike, but the result is nearly similar; while between other States, the result varies from four and a half to fifteen per cent. We extract the following from the 4th edition of "Chancellor Kent's Commentaries," on this subject.

In Massachusetts the usage was, to recover the amount of the protested bill at the par of exchange and interest, as in England, from the time payment of the dishonoured bill was demanded of the drawee, and the charge of the protest, and ten per cent damages in lieu of the price of exchange. But this rule has been changed by statute in 1825, 1835, and 1837; and bills drawn or endorsed in that state, and payable without the limits of the United States, and duly protested for non-acceptance or non-payment, are now settled at the current rate of exchange and interest, and five per cent damages; and if the bill be drawn upon any place beyond the Cape of Good Hope, twenty per cent damages. The rate of damages in Massachusetts, on inland bills payable out of the state, and duly protested for non-acceptance or non-payment, is two per cent in addition to the contents of the bill, with interest and costs, if payable in any other New England State, or New York; and three per cent if payable in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Mary

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land; and four per cent if payable in Virginia, district of Columbia, North Carolina, South Carolina, or Georgia; and five per cent, if payable in any other of the United States, or the territories thereof.

In Rhode Island, the rule formerly was, according to the revised code in 1776, on bills returned from beyond sea, protested for non-acceptance or nonpayment, ten per cent, and damages, besides interest and costs.

The rule of damages in Connecticut, on bills returned protested, and drawn on any person in New York, is two per cent, upon the principal sum specified in the bill; in New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New York (city of New York excepted), New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, or territory of Columbia, three per cent; in North Carolina, South Carolina, Ohio, or Georgia, five per cent; in any other part of the United States, eight per cent, upon such principal sum, to be in lieu of interest and all other charges, and without any reference to the rate of exchange.

The rate of damages on bills drawn and payable within the United States, or other parts of North America, was, in 1819, regulated in New York by statute, and the damages fixed at five, or seven and a half, or ten per cent, according to the distance or situation of the place on which the bill was drawn. But, by the new revised statutes, which went into operation on the 1st of January, 1830, the damages

on bills, foreign and inland, were made the subject of a more extensive regulation. They provide that, upon bills drawn or negotiated within the state, upon any person, at any place, within the six states east of New York, or in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, or the district of Columbia, the damages to be allowed and paid, upon the usual protest for non-acceptance or non-payment, to the holder of the bill, as purchaser thereof, or of some interest therein, for a valuable consideration, shall be three per cent upon the principal sum specified in the bill; and upon any person, at any place, within the states of North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Kentucky, and Tennessee, five per cent; and upon any in any other state or territory of the United States, or at any other place on, or adjacent to this continent, and north of the equator, or in any British or foreign possessions in the West Indies, or elsewhere in the Western Atlantic ocean, or in Europe, ten per cent. The damages are to be in lieu of interest, charges of protest, and all other charges incurred previous to, and at the time of, giving notice of non-acceptance or non-payment. But the holder will be entitled to demand and recover interest upon the aggregate amount of the principal sum specified in the bill, and the damages, from the time of notice of the protest for non-acceptance, or notice of a demand and protest for nonpayment. If the contents of the bill be expressed in the money of account of the United States, the amount due thereon, and the damages allowed for

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non-payment, are to be ascertained and determined, without reference to the rate of exchange existing between New York and the place on which the bill is drawn. But, if the contents of the bill be expressed in the money of account, or currency of any foreign country, then the amount due, exclusive of the damages, is to be ascertained and determined by the rate of exchange, or the value of such foreign currency, at the time of the demand for payment.

In Pennsylvania the rule, for a century past, was twenty per cent damages, in lieu of re-exchange; but by statute, in 1821, five per cent damages were allowed upon bills, drawn upon any person in any other of the United States, except Louisiana; if on Louisiana, or any other part of North America, except the north-west coast and Mexico, ten per cent; if on Mexico, the Spanish Main, or the islands on the coasts of Africa, fifteen per cent; and twenty per cent upon protested bills on Europe, and twentyfive per cent upon other foreign bills, in lieu of all charges, except the protest, and the amount of the bill is to be ascertained and determined at the rate of exchange.

In Maryland the rule, by statute, is fifteen per cent damages, and the amount of the bill ascertained at the current rate of exchange, or the rate requisite to purchase a good bill of the same time of payment, upon the same place.

In Virginia and South Carolina, the damages, by statute, are fifteen per cent.

In North Carolina, by statute, in 1828, damages

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