Promissory Note
2 of the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Promissory Note. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
an unconditional promise in writing to pay on or before a fixed date a stated sum of money to a person named. The following form is simple and correct: $240. MINNEAPOLIS, MINN., Jan. 1, 1910. Sixty days after date, for value received, I promise to pay to the order of Welles Brothers and Company the sum of two hundred forty and no/100 dollars, with interest at six per cent. JOHN DOE. Some of the business laws that apply to promissory notes are in brief: The maker of a note that is lost or stolen is not released from payment if the amount and consideration can be proven. Notes bear interest only when so stated. Demand notes are payable on presentation, without grace, and bear legal interest after a demand has been made, if not so written. An endorser on a demand note is holden only for a limited time, variable in different states. A negotiable note must be made payable either to bearer, or be properly endorsed by the person to whose order it is made. If the endorser wishes to avoid responsibility, he can endorse "without recourse." A joint note is one signed by two or more persons, who can each become liable for the whole amount. No grace is allowed in the majority of states on time notes after the time for payment expires. If not paid when due, the endorser, if any, should be legally notified to be holden. Notes falling due on Sunday, or on a legal holiday, must be paid the day following as a rule. A note made on a Sunday is void, also one dated ahead of its issue. It may be dated back at pleasure. Altering a note in any manner, by the holder, makes it void. A note by a minor is void in some states, and in others it is voidable on judicial decision. Notes obtained by fraud, or given by intoxicated persons, cannot be collected. It is a fraud to conceal a fraud. Signatures made with a lead pencil are good in law. The acts of one partner bind the rest. An agreement without consideration of value is void. "Value received" is usually written in a note, and should be, but it is not necessary. If not written, it is presumed by the law or may be supplied by proof. The maker of an "accommodation" bill or note (one for which he had received no consideration), having lent his name or credit for the benefit of the holder, is not bound to the person accommodated, but is bound to all other parties precisely as if there was a good consideration. No consideration is sufficient in law if it be illegal in its nature. An indorsee has a right of action against all whose names were on the bill when he received it. An endorser of a note is exempt from liability if not served with notice of its dishonor within twenty-four hours of its non-payment. If the letter containing the protest of non-payment be put into the postoffice, any miscarriage does not affect the party giving notice. Notice of protest may be sent either to the place of business or residence of the party notified. Prong-horn, or Prong-buck, an animal of the western plains, ranging from Dakota to Texas and westward. Hunters and ranchmen call it an antelope. It neither sheds antlers like the deer, nor retains horns like the antelope; but the horny sheath that covers the growth is shed annually. Its horns exhibit a peculiarity of great interest to naturalists. The new covering of the horn is very evidently composed of gluey strands of hair which later harden into ordinary horn. In a scientific classification, the prong-horn occupies an intermediate position between the deer and the antelope. The prong-horn is now becoming scarce but it was at one time an important game animal. It is an inhabitant of the plains. It requires harsh, wiry pasturage. It will not rear young in captivity. Large specimens measure thirty-seven inches shoulder height. See Deer ; Antelope
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
a written promise to pay a given sum of money to a certain person, at a specified date. The phrase "for value received" is usually inserted.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
The basic instrument Collier's described in 1921 is still with us: a written, unconditional promise to pay a fixed sum, and "for value received" is still commonly printed on the form. What has gone is the patchwork of state rules Aiton's set out so carefully in 1910. The Uniform Negotiable Instruments Law, then still being adopted state by state, was in force everywhere by the mid-1920s and was in turn replaced from the 1950s onward by Article 3 of the Uniform Commercial Code, which every state has enacted; days of grace disappeared, the notice of dishonor deadline is now measured in days rather than Aiton's "twenty-four hours," and notes signed on a Sunday are no longer void. Aiton's remark that "signatures made with a lead pencil are good in law" has a modern descendant: under the federal E-SIGN Act of 2000 and the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act, an electronic signature will generally do as well.
Written for this edition, 2026.