Section 2: Creation and form of cheque

The cheque contains : 1. The name of the cheque, inserted in the actual text of the cheque and expressed in the language used for drafting the cheque; 2. A pure and simple mandate to pay a specific sum; 3. The name of the person who must pay, called the drawee; 4. Indication of the place where payment is to be made; 5. The date and place where the cheque…

A document lacking any of the particulars specified in article L. 131-2 shall not be valid as a cheque, except in the cases set out in the following paragraphs. In the absence of any special indication, the place designated next to the name of the drawee is deemed to be the place of payment. If several places are indicated next to the name of the drawee, the cheque is payable…

Cheques may only be drawn on a credit institution, an investment services provider other than a portfolio management company, the French Treasury, the Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations or the Banque de France, which has funds available to the drawer at the time the instrument is created and in accordance with an express or tacit agreement according to which the drawer has the right to dispose of these funds by…

The cheque cannot be accepted. A statement of acceptance on the cheque is deemed to be unwritten. However, the drawee may endorse the cheque; endorsement has the effect of establishing the existence of the funds on the date on which it is given.

Cheques may be made payable : – to a named person, with or without an express “to order” clause ; – to a named person, with the clause “not to order” or an equivalent clause; – to bearer. A cheque payable to a named person, with the words “or to bearer” or an equivalent term, is treated as a bearer cheque. A cheque without any indication of the beneficiary is…

Cheques may be made payable to the drawer. Cheques may be drawn on behalf of a third party. Cheques may not be drawn on the drawer himself, except in the case of a cheque drawn between different establishments of the same drawer and provided that the cheque is not to bearer.

Any stipulation of interest in the cheque is deemed unwritten.

Cheques may be made payable at the domicile of a third party either in the locality where the drawee is domiciled or in another locality, provided that the third party is a bank or a postal cheque centre. Moreover, this domiciliation may not be made against the will of the bearer, unless the cheque is crossed and the domiciliation takes place at the Banque de France, on the same square.

A cheque written in both words and figures is only valid for the amount written in words in the event of a difference. Where a cheque is written more than once, either in words or in figures, the difference shall be deemed to be the lesser amount.

If the cheque bears the signatures of persons incapable of binding themselves by cheque, or forged signatures, or signatures of fictitious persons, or signatures which for any other reason cannot bind the persons who signed the cheque, or in whose name it was signed, the obligations of the other signatories are none the less valid.