BASSIL vs. RAAD

JUDGMENT OF OLLENNU J. This is a claim made against the defendant as the drawer of a cheque. The defence is that the said cheque was issued to the plaintiff in a moneylending transaction which contravenes the Moneylenders Ordinance,1(1) and therefore it is unenforceable. In his reply to the statement of defence, the plaintiff contended that the transaction in connection with which the cheque was issued, although a loan transaction is not a money lending transaction within the Moneylenders Ordinance,2(2) because he gave the loan without interest, and therefore the claim is one purely on a cheque. According to the plaintiff he has never presented the said cheque for payment because the defendant told him not to. A claim upon a cheque is governed by the Bills of Exchange Ordinance3(3). In order to charge the drawee and the endorser of a bill, section 45 of the Ordinance makes it mandatory that it must first of all be presented for payment in accordance with rules laid down, unl...