A banker has no right to detain, or appropriate to the liquidation of an advance or overdrawn account, property of any kind that has been deposited with him for safe custody. It must be given up to the depositor on his application, although he may at the time be indebted to the banker to the full amount of the property.

Nor can a banker, without the express consent of his customer, apply a balance realized by the sale of securities deposited to cover a specific advance, towards the satisfaction of any claim that may have arisen since the deposit. But on the other hand he would have a lien on securities deposited as security without a specific appropriation, although the claim may be subsequent to the deposit.

Under certain clauses of the 17th and 18th Victoria, a judge of one of the superior courts has power to issue an order by which a banker is prohibited from parting with any money he may have to the credit of a customer, except by payment into court.

The Lord Mayor's Court also has similar, but more extensive, authority within the limits of the City of London, as an attachment can there be issued to compel a defendant to appear and put in bail, whilst elsewhere judgment must first be obtained. This jurisdiction, however, more particularly applies to private banks, as in the case of joint-stock banks it is a disputed point, and is now before the judges on appeal in the Lord Mayor's Court.

Funds standing to the credit of tax collectors may be seized on behalf of the Crown under a writ of extent.

The power to compel a banker to produce his books in the law courts either in civil or criminal proceedings has long been felt as a great inconvenience to bankers and the public. To remedy this, the Bankers' Books Evidence Act has been passed, at the instigation of Sir John Lubbock, which provides that copies, properly certified, may be produced in evidence instead of the original books, except in cases where the banker is a party to the suit, or a judge in the exercise of his discretion shall order that copies be not admissible.

The following is the text of the Act.

Bankers' Books Evidence Act.

39 & 40 Vict., cap. 48.

An Act to amend the Law with reference to Bankers' Boohs Evidence [11th August, 1876].

Whereas serious inconvenience has been occasioned to bankers and also to the public by reason of the ledgers and other account books having been removed from the banks for the purpose of being produced in legal proceedings:

And whereas it is expedient to facilitate the proof of the transactions recorded in such ledgers and account books:

Be it therefore enacted by the Queen's most excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

1. Short title. - This Act may be cited for all purposes as "The Bankers' Books Evidence Act, 1876."

2. Interpretation clause.-The word "bank" in this Act shall mean any person or persons, partnership or company, carrying on the business of bankers, and who at the commencement of each year shall have made their return to the Commissioners of Inland Revenue, and any Savings Bank certified under the Act of 1863.

The word "legal proceedings" in this Act shall include all proceedings, whether preliminary or final, in courts of justice, both criminal and civil, legal and equitable, and shall include all proceedings, whether preliminary or final, by way of arbitration, examination of witnesses, assessment of damages, compensation, or otherwise, in which there is power to administer an oath.

The words "the court" in this Act shall mean the court, judge, magistrate, sheriff, arbitrator, or other person authorised to preside over the said legal proceedings for the time being, and shall include all persons, judges, or officers having jurisdiction and authorised to preside over or to exercise judicial control over the said legal proceedings or the procedure or any steps therein.

The words "a judge of one of the superior courts" shall mean respectively a judge of Her Majesty's High Court of Justice in so far as this Act applies to England and Wales, a lord ordinary of the outer house of the Court of Sessions in Scotland in so far as it applies to Scotland, and a judge of one of the superior courts at Dublin in so far as it applies to Ireland.

3. Entries in boohs by affidavit admissible in evidence.-From and after the commencement of this Act the entries in ledgers, day books, cash books, and other account books of any bank shall be admissible in all legal proceedings as prima facie evidence of the matters, transactions, and accounts recorded therein on proof being given by the affidavit in writing of one of the partners, managers, or officers of such bank, or by other evidence that such ledgers, day books, cash books, or other account books are or have been the ordinary books of such bank, and that the said entries have been made in the usual and ordinary course of business, and that such books are in or come immediately from the custody or control of such bank. Nothing in this clause contained shall apply to any legal proceeding to which any bank whose ledgers, day books, cash books, and other account books may be required to be produced in evidence shall be a party.

4. Originals need not be produced. - Copies of all entries in any ledgers, day books, cash books, or other account books used by any such bank may be proved in all legal proceedings as evidence of such entries without production of the originals, by means of the affidavit of a person who has examined the same, stating the facts of said examination, and that the copies sought to be put in evidence are correct.

5. Proviso as to notice to parties in a suit.-Provided always, that no ledger, day book, cash book, or other account book of any such bank, and no copies of entries therein contained shall be adduced or received in evidence under this Act, unless five days' notice in writing, or such other notice as may be ordered by the court, containing a copy of the entries proposed to be adduced and of the intention to adduce the same in evidence, shall have been given by the party proposing to adduce the same in evidence to the other party or parties to the said legal proceeding, and that such other party or parties is or are at liberty to inspect the original entries and the accounts of which such entries form a part.