Question 421. - Bank A clears a cheque through the clearing house to bank B. Bank B neglects to return it within the time stated by the local clearing house rules. Bank A refuses to give bank B a clearing credit slip on these grounds. Can bank B hold bank A upon protesting the cheque? We hold the cheque can be legally returned any time up to three o'clock irrespective of rules made by any clearing house.

Answer. - No clearing house rule can take away any right that a bank may have under the statutes. If bank A presented the cheque instead of sending it through the clearing house, it would be entitled to an immediate answer. It is not certain that the courts would recognize an agreement between banks that all items not returned by a certain hour might be regarded as paid, but a bank that elects to disregard the clearing house rules to which it has subscribed and falls back upon its strictly legal position, would expose itself to the loss of its clearing house privileges.