It is said by a text writer that if a check is not dated it is never payable,1 but the law is that such a check may be filled in with the true date, or if not filled in is payable upon demand, so far as the bank is concerned. The issuing of the check with a blank date is implied authority to any holder to fill in a date.2 But caution would dictate to a bank a request to have the check properly filled in as a measure of protection to its depositor. But a check is not payable until its date.3 A check post-dated on its face is an inland bill of exchange4 and is entitled to days of grace.5 A check signed before its date, which is altered by the depositor's book-keeper as to the date and cashed, the depositor having been guilty of no negligence in drawing the check, leaves the bank liable.6 But the bank is only liable to the depositor upon an altered check for paying; as to other parties it is not liable, and takes no risk except that the drawer's signature is genuine.7 If a bank pays a check before its date it is not entitled to charge it against the depositor's account.8

1 Irving Bank v. Alley, 79 N. Y. 536; First Nat. Bank v. Farmers' Bank, 76 N. W. R. 430.

2 Phillips v. Merchants'Nat. Bank, 140 N. Y. 556.

3 Shipman v. Bank of the State, 126 N. Y. 318. Contra, Bank of England v. Vagliano,(1891) App. Cas.107.

4 Armstrong v. Pomeroy Nat Bank, 46 Ohio St. 512, and case last cited.

5 Case last cited. Such a case becomes merely a case of payment upon a forged indorsement of the payee's name. See Sec. Sec. 154,156, infra.

6 Burnet Sav. Co. v. German Nat. Bank, 4 Ohio Dec. 290; Smith v. Mechanics' Bank, 6 La. Ann. 610; Crawford v. West Side Bank, 100 N. Y. 50, contra as to the negligence in the manner of delivering the check. The true rule would be this: If the bank was guilty of negligence in paying the check, the antecedent negligence of the drawer is immaterial, provided that negligence did not throw the bank off its guard. 7 See note 25 to preceding section.

1 Morse on Banking, 238.

2 See Crawford v. West Side Bank, 100 N. Y. 50, and 2 Ency. Law (2d ed.), 255.

3 Gordon v. Commonwealth Bank, 6 Duer, 76. Compare Taylor v. Sip, 30 N. J. Law, 284.