Bill of Exchange Law

7. System of the Act

Relevant legal regulation is embodied in BECA. The Act actually keeps its form till today (it was amended only once with no bigger importance, by the Act No. 29/2000 Coll.). As stated above the BECA arises from Geneva Convention.

In the Czech Republic, legal regulation of a bill of exchange and a cheque is consolidated in one act. It is therefore reflected in scheme of the act. BECA is divided into three separately numbered articles.

The first one (Article I, Section 1-98) regulates bills of exchange, the second one (Sec. 1-75) regulates cheques and the third one (Article I, Section 1-11) focuses on some common questions (active legal capacity, signatures of authorised persons and other declarations on deeds). From the point of view of bill of exchange law, the first and the third ones are important.

The first section is divided into four parts further divided into titles:

• Part One: Bills of Exchange (Sec. 1-74)
  • Title one: Issue and Form of a Bill of Exchange (Sec. 1-10)
  • Title two: Endorsement (Sec. 11-20)
  • Title three: Acceptance (Sec. 21-29)
  • Title four: Aval (Sec. 30-32)
  • Title five: Maturity of Bill of Exchange (Sec. 33-37)
  • Title six: Payment (Sec. 38-42)
  • Title seven: Recourse of Non-Acceptance or Non-Payment (Sec. 43-54)
  • Title eight: Intervention for Honour (Sec. 55-63)
  • Title nine: Parts of a Set and Copies (Sec. 64-68)
  • Title ten: Alterations (Sec. 69)
  • Title eleven: Limitation of Actions (Sec. 70-71)
  • Title twelve: General Provisions (Sec. 72-74)
• Part two: Promissory Notes (Sec. 75-78)
• Part three: Supplementary Provisions (Sec. 79-90)
  • Title one: Protest and Some Other Acts (Sec. 79-88)
  • Title two: Enrichment (Sec. 89)
  • Title three: Lost or Damaged Bills and Protest Deeds (Sec. 90)
• Part four: Special Provisions of International Bill Law (Sec. 91-98)

On the first sight it could seem that minimum attention was paid to promissory note. Its legal regulation is ostensibly contained in only four sections, but Sec. 77 says that if it accords with the substance of a promissory note, provision on a bill of exchange applies. Legislator chose the way of legislative short and so most of questions concerning promissory note were governed by the reference to the bill of exchange.