Commonwealth Consolidated Acts

BILLS OF EXCHANGE ACT 1909 - SECT 79

    Subject to the provisions of this Act:

  (a)   where a cheque is not presented for payment within a reasonable time of its issue, and the drawer or the person on whose account it is drawn had the right, at the time at which the presentment ought to have been made, as between him or her and the banker, to have the cheque paid, and suffers actual damage through the delay, he or she is discharged to the extent of such damage, that is to say, to the extent to which such drawer or person is a creditor of such banker to a larger amount than he or she would have been had such cheque been paid;

  (b)   in determining what is a reasonable time, regard shall be had to the nature of the instrument, the usage of trade and of bankers, and the facts of the particular case;

  (c)   the holder of such cheque as to which such drawer or person is discharged shall be a creditor, in lieu of such drawer or person, of such banker to the extent of such discharge, and entitled to recover the amount from him or her .