Bills of exchange (or as they are often referred to, ‘drafts’) are negotiable instruments that represent an unconditional promise by one party (the drawer) to pay money to another party (the drawee), in accordance with the terms of that instrument. They are often used in the context of trade finance where, for one reason or another, a party does not want to make immediate settlement of its account. The Bills of Exchange Act 1882 (BEA 1882) sets out in detail the requirements for the form of a bill of exchange and accordingly should be consulted prior to any detailed consideration of a bill of exchange. BEA 1882 provides that a bill of exchange is: ‘…an unconditional order in writing, addressed by one person to another, signed by the person giving it, requiring the person to whom it is addressed to pay on demand or at a fixed or determinable future time a sum certain in money to or to the order of a specified person, or to

This Practice Note explains the law and practicalities relating to bills of lading and sea waybills in the context of an arrangement for the carriage of goods by sea. It explains the differences between bearer bills, order bills and seaway bills, and explains the functions of the bill of lading as a receipt, document of title and contractual document. The Practice Note also explains who the parties to the contract of carriage are and their interplay with third parties, and how a transfer of rights under the documentation may be achieved. A bill of lading: • is produced by or for a carrier of goods by sea to the person with whom the contract of carriage is entered • contains or evidences the contract of carriage and its terms • provides evidence of the receipt of the goods • is a document of title Types of bills Bearer bills and order bills There

The bills of quantities list out the items of work, labour and materials required to complete the works. The bill is normally prepared by a quantity surveyor in accordance with a standard method of measurement, and priced by the contractor as part of the tender process. It will usually form part of the contract documents.

The Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, has requested and received permission from the King to dissolve Parliament and has called for a general election to be held on 4 July 2024, and Parliament will therefore be prorogued on 24 May 2024. The period until prorogation, called ‘wash-up’ is when unfinished parliamentary business must be agreed by both Houses of Parliament or fall automatically when Parliament is dissolved. As confirmed by Penny Mordaunt MP on 23 May 2024, the Victims and Prisoners Bill, Finance (No 2) Bill, Post Office (Horizon System) Offences Bill and Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill have all received Royal Assent. Other Bills which have received Royal Assent during wash-up include the Media Bill, Pet Abduction Bill, Paternity Leave (Bereavement) Bill, Zoological Society of London (Leases) Bill, British Nationality (Irish Citizens) Bill, Building Societies Act 1986 (Amendment) Bill and the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill.

ARCHIVED: This archived Practice Note tracked the progress of bills through Parliament during the parliamentary session which ran from 14 October to 6 November 2019 and which was dissolved in advance of the general election in December 2019. Upon dissolution, all Parliamentary Bills which did not received Royal Assent fell away and could not be carried over into the next Parliament. Corporate crime practitioners should therefore be aware that all the Bills in this tracker fell on 6 November 2019. This Practice Note tracked the progress of government bills relating to the field of corporate crime which were tabled in either the House of Commons or the House of Lords in the UK Parliament during this short Parliamentary session. This tracker was designed to assist corporate crime practitioners keep up-to-date with forthcoming legislation which will impact their particular areas of corporate crime practice: • Sentence and prison law • Corporate liability • Environmental offences • Extradition and mutual assistance • Health and safety and corporate manslaughter

ARCHIVED: This archived Practice Note tracked the progress of bills through Parliament during the parliamentary session which ran from June 2017–October 2019 and was closed by the Prorogation of Parliament on 8 October 2019. Prorogation brings to an end all Parliamentary bills that have not received Royal Assent unless they have been carried over by a motion of either House of Parliament. Two of bills from this Parliamentary session have been carried over to the next session. Parliament will be re-opened on 14 October 2019 and bills progressing through the next Parliamentary session will be tracked separately. On 24 September 2019, the Supreme Court declared that the prorogation of Parliament by Order in Council dated 28 August 2019 was unlawful, null and of no effect. As a result of the Supreme Court’s judgment, Parliament was never prorogued on 9 September 2019. For further information, see: LNB News 24/09/2019 21. See Q&As: What is prorogation of Parliament? and How is prorogation of Parliament relevant to Brexit? Accordingly, the

ARCHIVED: This Practice Note has been archived and is not maintained. It tracked the progress of government bills relevant to the field of corporate crime between December 2019 and December 2020 which were tabled in either the House of Commons or the House of Lords in the UK Parliament. This tracker was designed to assist corporate crime practitioners keep up-to-date with forthcoming legislation between December 2019 and December 2020. See Practice Note: Legislation tracker for corporate crime practitioners—2021 [Archived] for information on current bills before Parliament which relate to business crime/white collar crime. Corporate liability Bill Subject Analysis Further Material National Security and Investment BillUK Parliament—progress of the Bill This Bill enables the Secretary of State to make a call-in notice in relation to national security risks posed by certain investments, and provides for enforcement by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), and creates offences in connection with call-in notices The Bill:—gives the Secretary of State the power to issue a call-in notice in relation to an investment

The economic secretary to the Treasury, Bim Afolami, has responded to the Treasury Committee’s Second Report of Session 2023–24, Edinburgh Reforms One Year On: Has Anything Changed? (HC 221), setting out the Treasury’s response to each of the 18 conclusions in the report.

Law360: The cryptocurrency exchange Binance asked a UK tribunal on Wednesday to strike out a £9bn (US$11.5bn) claim brought by investors who say the exchange illegally colluded with other trading platforms to delist the Bitcoin Satoshi Vision cryptocurrency.

The smallest unit of digital information. A single digit number in 'base-2', either a 0 or a 10. Bandwidth is usually measured in bits-per-second (bps).

A credit default swap, for a fixed monetary amount.

Arbitration is binding on the parties provided that the award is within the parameters that would be awarded by the court, and is subject to the court's approval