Page:Harvard Law Review Volume 9.djvu/414

386 HARVARD LAW REVIEW, LOTTERY BONDS IN FRANCE AND IN THE PRINCIPAL COUNTRIES OF EUROPE.^ I. Definition : Questions of Law raised by Lottery Bonds. n. Concerning the Issue of Lottery Bonds. in. Concerning the Negotiation of Lottery Bonds. IV. Concerning the Payment of Lottery Bonds. V. International Law. VI. Economic and Legislative Survey. 'T^HE negotiable instrument which current expression and finan- -^ cial usage designate by the special name of •' bond " has spread through all the civilized countries of the world. It is primarily a deed of loan which is destined to circulate in the piiblic market, in the exchange and bank; in a word, it is a public evidence which represents a credit. Nevertheless, if the original type of bond, which, from a legal standpoint, is a simple deed of loan identical in nature with a note issued by a private individual, is thus found universally circulated, it is by no means the same with all kinds of bonds which are capable of being bought or sold in any of the public exchanges. In fact, there exists in a certain number of countries a class of bonds called lottery bonds,^ which by reason of their peculiar form, and of the peculiar rights which they confer on the holder, could not be freely issued or universally circulated. It is this category of bond which especially forms the subject of the present investigation. Lottery bonds have nothing at first sight to distinguish them from the ordinary bond. Like the latter, they can be made out payable to order or to bearer ; like the latter, also, they are usually provided with coupons representing interest to be paid ; and, like the latter, they as well bear the number of issue. But it is precisely the different use of these numbers which marks the difference between the two classes of obligations. In the ordinary bond the number of issue serves solely to facilitate the redemption of the 1 For the translation of this article from the French, the Editors are under obligation to Mr. Philip Ogden, of Johns Hopkins University. 2 In France, Obligations lots, Valeurs lots; in Germany, Pramienobligationen, Pramienpapiere, etc.