The question involved: Is the plaintiff, who has paid the cashing bank the amount of a forged check, which the plaintiff endorsed for the accommodation of a transient stranger, without knowl*711edge of the forgery, and without requiring identification of the stranger or getting his address, entitled to recover the amount of the check from the drawee bank to which it was sent through usual banking channels for payment because the drawee bank held said check for more than twenty-four hours in order to communicate with the alleged drawer who had a savings account, but not a checking account, with sufficient balance to pay the check, when the drawee bank acted in good faith and returned the check unpaid immediately after discovering the forgery, and within three days from the receipt of said cheek? On the record we do not think plaintiff is entitled to recover.
We cite the following negotiable instrument laws as bearing on this controversy:
N. 0. Code, 1935 (Michie), sec. 3003. “Effect of forged signature. When a signature is forged or made without the authority of the person whose signature it purports to be it is wholly inoperative, and no right to retain the instrument or to give a discharge therefor or to enforce payment thereof against any party thereto can be acquired through or under such signature unless the party against whom it is sought to enforce such right is precluded from setting up the forgery or want of authority.”
Sec. 3043. “Liability of acceptor. The acceptor by accepting the instrument engages that he will pay it according to the tenor of his acceptance, and admits (1) existence of the drawer, the genuineness of his signature and his capacity and authority to draw the instrument, and (2) the existence of the payee and his then capacity to endorse.”
Sec. 3114. “Acceptance defined; how made. The acceptance of a bill is the signification by the drawee of his assent to the order of the drawer. The acceptance must be in writing and signed by the drawee. It must not express that the drawee will perform his promise by any other means than the payment of money.”
Sec. 3118. “Time allowed drawee to accept. The drawee is allowed twenty-four hours after presentment in which to decide whether or not he will accept the bill, but the acceptance, if given, dates as of the day of presentation.”
Sec. 3119. “Liability of drawee retaining or destroying bill. Where a drawee to whom a bill is delivered for acceptance destroys the same or refuses within twenty-four hours after such delivery, or within such other period as the holder may allow, to return the bill accepted or nonaccepted to the holder, he will be deemed to have accepted the same.”
See. 3167. “Check defined. A check is a bill of exchange drawn on a bank payable on demand. Except as herein otherwise provided the provisions of this chapter that are applicable to a bill of exchange payable on demand apply to a check.”
*712Sec. 3169. “Effect of certification of check. Where a check is certified by the bank on which it is drawn the certification is equivalent to an acceptance.”
Sec. 3170. “Effect where holder of check procures it to be certified. Where the holder of a check procures it to be accepted or certified the drawer and all endorsers are discharged from liability thereon.”
On this record there is no dispute that the written instrument, purporting to be a check endorsed by plaintiff for the accommodation of A. B. Coyne, was a forgery.
A forged paper is neither a bill nor a check, and secs. 3118 and 3119, sufra, do not apply. Sec. 3003, supra, provides that “when a signature is forged or made without the authority of the person whose signature it purports to be, it is wholly inoperative.” The written instrument, under the statute, is “wholly inoperative,” and sees. 3118 and 3119 do not apply.
The twenty-four hour limit does not apply, but the rule of reasonable time, under all the facts and circumstances, would apply. We think the time was reasonable and there was no negligence shown to hold defendant bank liable. The forged instrument was received on Monday, 17 February, 1936, by defendant bank, and protested on Thursday, 20 February, 1936.
The able brief of plaintiff cites authorities which we do not think are applicable. We think the statute, sec. 3003, supra, controls this action. We do not think the defendant bank by its conduct accepted the instrument in question. As far as we have examined the authorities, the matter in controversy has not been decided heretofore by this Court. No direct authorities have been cited in the learned briefs of the litigants. We think the construction which we put on the statutes is the logic of the situation.
In Keel v. Wynne, 210 N. C., 427 (429), we said: “The plaintiff Keel endorsed the check ‘O.K.,’ viz: ‘Correct, all right,’ without inquiry. We think that a reasonably prudent man, under the circumstances, should not have done so, and he must bear the loss. Under the facts and circumstances of this case, if plaintiff ever had any rights against defendant Wynne, the clerk, he is estopped to complain by his own negligence. Tolman v. Am. Nat. Bk., 22 R. I., 462; N. C. Code, 1935 (Michie), sec. 3003.”
For the reasons given the judgment of the court below is
Reversed.