Incomplete promissory note signed in blank remains enforceable when statutory presumptions and burden of proof favour the holder.

Admission of signature on a stamped but incomplete promissory note gives the holder prima facie authority to complete the instrument within the stamp limit, and the defendant cannot avoid liability merely because the remaining contents were filled in later. The admitted signature also shifts the evidentiary burden to the defendant to prove fabrication or absence of consideration, with the statutory presumptions under the Negotiable Instruments Act and the burden of proof rules under the Evidence Act operating in the plaintiff's favour. On this reasoning, the promissory note was treated as enforceable and the concurrent dismissals were set aside.

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Issues: (i) Whether a defendant who admits signing a blank stamped promissory note can deny liability after the holder fills up the instrument. (ii) Whether the courts below erred in not applying the presumptions and burden of proof principles under the Negotiable Instruments Act and the Evidence Act.

Issue (i): Whether a defendant who admits signing a blank stamped promissory note can deny liability after the holder fills up the instrument.

Analysis: Section 20 of the Negotiable Instruments Act recognizes that a person who signs and delivers a stamped paper, whether wholly blank or incomplete, gives prima facie authority to the holder to complete it as a negotiable instrument within the stamp limit. The plaintiff was treated as a holder in due course under Section 9 of the Negotiable Instruments Act. On that footing, the filling up of blanks did not invalidate the instrument, and the defendant could not avoid liability merely by asserting that the remaining contents were inserted later.

Conclusion: The defendant's admission of signature on the stamped instrument did not defeat the plaintiff's claim; liability was not displaced on that ground.

Issue (ii): Whether the courts below erred in not applying the presumptions and burden of proof principles under the Negotiable Instruments Act and the Evidence Act.

Analysis: The court held that the admitted signature shifted the evidentiary burden to the defendant to establish fabrication or absence of consideration. Sections 101 and 102 of the Evidence Act governed the burden of proof, while Section 118 of the Negotiable Instruments Act supported a presumption in favour of the negotiable instrument. The lower courts had failed to apply these legal principles and had therefore reached an erroneous conclusion.

Conclusion: The courts below erred in law in ignoring the statutory presumptions and burden of proof rules, and their findings were unsustainable.

Final Conclusion: The suit promissory note was held enforceable against the defendant, and the plaintiff's second appeal succeeded by setting aside the concurrent dismissals of the suit.

Ratio Decidendi: Admission of signature on a stamped but incomplete negotiable instrument empowers the holder in due course to complete it, and statutory presumptions under the Negotiable Instruments Act operate unless the defendant rebuts them with proof.

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