48 BILLS OF EXCHANGE AND PROMISSORY NOTES. [ART. 13

allow, to return the bill accepted or non-accepted to the holder,
he will be deemed to have accepted the same.

157. A bill may be accepted before it has been signed by the
drawer, or while otherwise incomplete, or when it is overdue, or
after it has been dishonored by a previous refusal to accept, or
by non-payment. But when a bill payable after sight is dis-
honored by non-acceptance and the drawee subsequently accepts
it, the holder, in the absence of any different agreement, is enti-
tled to have the bill accepted as of the date of the first pre-
sentment.

158. An acceptance is either general or qualified. A general
acceptance assents without qualification to the order of the
drawer. A qualified acceptance in express terms varies the effect
of the bill as drawn.

159. An acceptance to pay at a particular place is a general
acceptance unless it expressly states that the bill is to be paid
there only and not elsewhere.

160. An acceptance is qualified, which is:,

1. Conditional—that is to say, which makes payment by the
acceptor dependent on the fulfillment of a condition therein
stated;

2. Partial—that is to say, an acceptance to pay part only of
the amount for which the bill is drawn;

3. Local—that is to say, an acceptance to pay only at a partic-
ular place;

4. Qualified as to time;

5. The acceptance of some one or more of the drawees, but
not of all.

161. The holder may refuse to take a qualified acceptance,
and if he does not obtain an unqualified acceptance, he may treat
the bill as dishonored by non-acceptance. Where a qualified
acceptance is taken, the drawer and indorsers are discharged
from liability on the bill, unless they have expressly or impliedly
authorized the holder to take a qualified acceptance, or subse-
quently assent thereto. "When the drawer or an indorser receives