A check on a bank is always payable upon presentation during business hours, and the bank upon which it is drawn is under no obligation to pay it unless the person drawing it has the full amount named in the check standing to his credit on the books of the hank.

If a depositor draws several checks, amounting in the aggregate to more money than he has to his credit, the bank should pay these checks in the order of their presentation, without regard to their dates or numbers indicating the order in which drawn, until the amount to his credit is exhausted, and may refuse to pay those presented after this. So, also, where a customer, having an amount to his credit, issues a check, and afterward instructs the bank not to pay the check when presented, the bank should refuse payment, leaving it to the holder to collect his claim in some other way from the drawer of the check, or from the endorser if the check is endorsed.

Where payment of a check payable to bearer is refused by a bank, it is not necessary to have it protested, as in case of a note at maturity, but if the check is endorsed by some other party than the holder, then it should be formally presented at the hank and protested for non-payment in order to hold the endorser responsible for its payment.

The check is a most convenient and safe instrument for effecting payment of a debt, as when it is endorsed to the order of the party to whom the debt is due, it can with safety be sent by mail or otherwise to him, with the assurance that he will receive payment, for if the bank on which it is drawn pays it on a forged endorsement to anybody else, it must make the amount good to the real owner. Periodically a bank calls for the depositor's pass-book, "writes it up" and "balances" it. This is done by comparing it with the depositor's "account" on the bank's "individual ledger," which ought to show all deposits made and all checks paid for his account. If any entries of deposits are omitted from the pass-book, these are entered by the bank, and the amounts of all checks paid are also entered on the opposite side of the pass-book. The entries made are then added up on both sides, and the total of checks being deducted from the total of deposits, the remainder shows the "balance" still remaining to the depositor's credit with the bank. The paid checks are returned, with the pass-book, to the depositor, who is usually required to give the bank a receipt for them, which also acknowledges the correctness of the amount of the balance remaining. On receiving these paid checks the depositor should examine them carefully to see if the signatures are genuine and that the amounts for which they were originally drawn have not been dishonestly altered or "raised" to a larger amount. These paid checks, when so returned, are really receipts for the money paid on them. So a check is not only a safe method of paying or remitting money, but when returned to the drawer is a good receipt for the payment.