Question of Negotiable Instruments in China Before the Mixed Court The absence of financial legislation in Chinese law was referred to at the Mixed Court on Tuesday, during the resumed hearing of an action involving $29,000 by Lien Siung-kirin against the Ningpo Commercial Bank. Plaintiff alleged that certain native bank orders which were caused to be issued by the Kincheng Banking Corporation and the South Seas Bank, Ld., and on which defendants claimed to have advanced money, had been lost by him and, therefore, defendants had no right whatever to claim from plaintiff any money which may have been advanced or claimed thereon. According to the defendants, the plaintiff came to them one day for the purpose of arranging a loan. Plaintiff promised to refund the money within a few days, and in order to furnish defendants with some security for, and acknowledgement of, his indebtedness, handed defendants_certain cheques. Some time later, plaintiff handed defendants, instead of cash, certain native bank orders in settlement of the loan. He then received back his cheques from the defendants, after which plaintiff applied to the Mixed Court for an injunction stopping payment on the bank orders. He alleged that some had been lost somewhere in Shanghai, and plain. tiff gave defendants no time to take action.
Counsel in the case were: Dr. H.
Mei for the plaintiff, and Mr. A. Krisel for the defendants. Mr K. I, Newman watched the case on behalf of the Kincheng Banking Corporation and the Bankers' Guild.
Mr. Krisel, submitting a motion for the removal of the Court's injunction, said that in the absence of special provisions in Chinese law regarding bank orders, all questions affecting negotiable instruments should be bound by the rules and customs prevailing. In the absence of any special custom, legal principles must prevail. It was an admitted fact that there were no negotiable.instruments of law in China. For that reason the next thing to be complied with was the custom of any particular locality.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.