Question 6. - A "voucher-cheque" bears the clause "This cheque is not negotiable if detached from voucher." As a cheque is an unconditional order to pay out funds, can a banker legally refuse payment of a "voucher-cheque" from which the voucher has been detached?

Answer. - The bank can legally refuse payment of a "voucher-cheque" from which the voucher has been detached. The ordinary "voucher-cheque" which is made payable conditionally on a specified attached receipt being signed by the payee is not a cheque and, therefore, not an unconditional order addressed to the bank on which it is drawn. Such items are debarred from being included in the general law as to cheques. In paying these "voucher-cheques" the bank is not protected by any of the legislation directly affecting cheques. If the receipt is not signed by the payee the banker has paid out his customer's money without authority and cannot debit him. See Capital & Counties Bank v. Gordon, 1903, A. C. 252. Halsbury, Laws of England, Vol. 1, p. 613.