Dishonesty in Cheque and Credit Card Holders
| Author | A. Kewley |
| Published date | 01 November 1984 |
| Date | 01 November 1984 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002201838404800408 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
DISHONESTY
IN
CHEQUE
AND
CREDIT
CARD
HOLDERS
A.
Kewley*
Modern commerce increasingly involves the use of money in the
form of cheques
or
payment by means of a credit card. The main
idea of a cheque is to enable the drawer to pay without having the
inconvenience of having to carry large amountsof cash around. The
essential contractual condition in the arrangement made between a
banker and a customer will be that cheques must be presented in
accordance with the terms made between the
banker
and
client-this
normally means that cheques are to be drawn only when there are
sufficient funds to meet the cheque on presentment.
Credit cards or "plastic money" have become increasingly
prevalent over the last decade because they provide a very simple
and easy way of buying or selling. A transaction using a credit card is
arelatively straightforward
matter
enabling, for example, a pur-
chaser to buy goods by telephone and the seller to be assured of the
money being credited to the seller's account by the bank runningthe
credit card scheme, provided that all the necessary formalities have
been observed (in return, usually, for a commission payable to the
bank on all such sales).
The purpose of this article is to examine the central issue of
dishonesty in the use of cheque and credit cards, not by someone
who has stolen them but by a bank customer who exceeds his/her
authority to use a cheque book or credit card, i.e. someone who has
abused the freedom and flexibility that the cheque book or credit
card provide.
The central representations implied by a customer drawing a
cheque were established by Kenny' as follows: 1.
"That
the drawer
has an account with the
bank"
upon which the cheque is drawn; 2.
"That
(the drawer) has authority to draw on (the account) for (the)
*Lecturer in Law, The University, Hull.
I. Kenny. Outlines
of
the Criminal Law
(19th
ed .• 1966). p. 359 sec also R. v.
Page 119711 2
0.8.
330.
406
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