It has frequently been asked whether a trade acceptance payable at a certain bank operates in the same manner as does a check; that is to say, if a trade acceptance is presented at the bank where it is made payable, for payment, is the bank obligated in the same way as it is on a check drawn upon it by one of its depositors.

Prior to the enactment of the Negotiable Instruments Law, there was a conflict of opinion in the different States on this point. Where a customer made his note payable at a bank, some States, as New York and Pennsylvania, held that it was equivalent to a check. In other words, the acceptance operated as an order upon the bank to pay; and on presentation at maturity, it was paid and charged up in the same manner as a check would be.

Courts in other States, however, held that it was not equivalent to an order to pay, and that a note payable at a bank simply designated the bank as the place of payment, and the bank, as the customer's agent, had no authority by reason of that clause in the note, to make payment at maturity without his express instructions. Such a condition exists in the Negotiable Instruments Law to-day in the case of instruments presented after the date of maturity, when it becomes necessary to procure the express instructions of the maker before payment is made thereon.