Cheques Act, 1959

• Jurisdiction: Ireland

Number 19 of 1959.
CHEQUES ACT, 1959.
ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS
Section 1. Protection of bankers paying unindorsed or irregular indorsed cheques, etc. 2. Rights of bankers collecting cheques not indorsed by holders. 3. Unindorsed cheques as evidence of payment. 4. Protection of bankers collecting payment of cheques, etc. 5. Application of certain provisions of Bills of Exchange Act, 1882, to instruments not being bills of exchange. 6. Construction, saving and repeal. 7. Short title and commencement.
SCHEDULE
Number 19 of 1959.
CHEQUES ACT, 1959.
AN ACT TO AMEND THE LAW RELATING TO CHEQUES AND CERTAIN OTHER INSTRUMENTS. [28th July, 1959.]
BE IT ENACTED BY THE OIREACHTAS AS FOLLOWS:—
	Protection of bankers paying unindorsed or irregularly indorsed cheques, etc.	1.—(1) Where a banker in good faith and in the ordinary course of business pays a cheque drawn on him which is not indorsed or is irregularly indorsed, he does not, in doing so, incur any liability by reason only of the absence of, or irregularity in, indorsement, and he is deemed to have paid it in due course.
	(2) Where a banker in good faith and in the ordinary course of business pays any such instrument as the following, namely,—
	(a) a document issued by a customer of his which, though not a bill of exchange, is intended to enable a person to obtain payment from him of the sum mentioned in the document;
	(b) a draft payable on demand drawn by him upon himself, whether payable at the head office or some other office of his bank;
	he does not, in doing so, incur any liability by reason only of the absence of, or irregularity in, indorsement, and the payment discharges the instrument.
	Rights of bankers collecting cheques not indorsed by holders.	2.— A banker who gives value for, or has a lien on, a cheque payable to order which the holder delivers to him for collection without indorsing it has such (if any) rights as he would have had if, upon delivery, the holder had indorsed it in blank.
	Unindorsed cheques as evidence of payment.	3.—An unindorsed cheque which appears to have been paid by the banker on whom it is drawn is evidence of the receipt by the payee of the sum payable by the cheque.
	Protection of bankers collecting payment of cheques, etc.	4.— (1) Where a banker, in good faith and without negligence,—
	(a) receives payment for a customer of an instrument to which this section applies; or
	(b) having credited a customer's account with the amount of such an instrument, receives payment thereof for himself;
	and the customer has no title, or a defective title, to the instrument, the banker does not incur any liability to the true owner of the instrument by reason only of having received payment thereof.
	(2) This section applies to the following instruments, namely,—
	(a) cheques;
	(b) any document issued by a customer of a banker which, though not a bill of exchange, is intended to enable a person to obtain payment from that banker of the sum mentioned in the document;
	(c) any document...