ACCESSION,  Deed  of.  See  Bankruptcy
in  Scotland.
ACCOMMODATION  BILL.  An  accommo-
dation bill  may  be  described  as  a  bill  given
without  receipt  of  value,  in  order  that  the
person  to  whom  it  is  given  may  raise  money
and  obtain  credit  by  means  of  it.  Ordinarily,
the  person  who  lends  his  name  accepts  a  biU
drawn  on  him  by  the  person  he  wishes  to
accommodate,  but  sometimes  a  bill  is  drawn,
accepted,  and  indorsed  by  different  persons,  in
order  to  accommodate  some  person  who  is  not
a  party  to  the  bill  at  aU.  Perhaps  the  strict
legal  definition  of  an  accommodation  bill  would
be  a  bill  whereon  the  principal  debtpr,  accord-
ing to  the  terms  of  the  instrument,  is  in  sub-
stance a  mere  surety  for  some  other  person,
whether  that  person  be  a  party  to  the  bill  or
not.  When  an  accommodation  bill  gets  into
the  hands  of  a  holder  for  value  he  may  enforce
payment  of  it  precisely  in  the  same  way  as  if
the  bill  had  been  given  for  value.  When,  how-
ever, an  accommodation  bill  is  dishonoured,
some  special  considerations  come  into  play.  In
the  first  place  a  drawer  or  indorser  for  whose
accommodation  the  bill  was  accepted  cannot  set
up  as  a  defence  either  absence  of  notice  of  dis-
honour or  informality  in  presentment  for  pay-
ment, for  he  was  the  party  primarily  liable  to
meet  the  bill.  Secondly,  if  the  bill  be  held  by
a  person  who  knows  the  real  relationship  of  the
parties,  the  ordinary  rule  of  the  law  of  principal
and  surety  then  attaches,  and  a  discharge  of.
or  binding  agreement  to  give  time  to,  the  prin-
cipal debtor  may  discharge  the  surety.  Fot
instance,  suppose  the  holder  of  a  bill  knows
that  it  was  accepted  to  accommodate  the  drawer.
