THE BILL OF EXCHANGE AS AN ASSIGNMENT OF FUNDS: A COMPARATIVE STUDY

Abstract

In England the bill of exchange does not operate as an assignment, but in Scotland it does, making a non-accepting drawee liable on the bill. The author considers the question of whether Canada should follow Scotland or England, by tracing the roots of assignment back through Roman thought in search of the evolutionary separation between neighbourly systems. The issue is relevant to Canada because the English approach was transported into Canadian legislation and adopted by some of the greatest financial nations in the world.