From: utzoo!watmath!jcwinterton Newsgroups: net.misc Title: Re: Do we need to buy checks? Article-I.D.: watmath.4209 Posted: Fri Jan 7 21:30:42 1983 Received: Fri Jan 7 23:58:04 1983 References: rocheste.369 Back in the late '50s and early '60s when I worked for a bank the Bills of Exchange Act would allow ANY instrument to be used as a bill of exchange provided it had the legal wording. Any document could be used as a negotiable instrument provided it had the phrase "Pay to the order of .... " an amount and a signature. It also had to be drawn on a recognized bank or clearing house. If it was not drawn on a clearing agency, then it could be "accepted" by someone who had such an account. I have seen cheques written on egg shells, steel plates and other misc- ellaneous materials. The most interesting one was to pay off a mortgage and was written on a glazed brick. Alas, with the coming of automated clearing, the banks and the bankers' associations have caused the various acts to be amended so that not only must cheques be written on paper, but of paper in a range of permissable sizes. If this is not done, the banks will impose an enormous and fully permissable service charge on the item in question and may refuse to honour it. Sigh! Things sure aren't like they used to be in the old days ... John Winterton (watmath!watbun!jcwinterton)