Where an alteration is in itself immaterial it will not void an instrument even though made with fraudulent intent.

In Missouri it has been held that any alteration material or immaterial, made fraudulently or innocently, avoids a note in the hands of one who made the alteration.  But in a later Missouri case, it is held, that the addition of the signature of a married woman without a separate estate to a note already issued was a nullity and without legal effect and therefore to be considered as no alteration and not to discharge the original parties.

CHAPTER V

HOW TO WRITE A CHECK TO PREVENT FORGING

How a Paying Teller Determines the Amount of a Check—­Written Amount and Amount in Figures Conflict—­Depositor Protected by Paying Teller—­Chief Concern of Drawer of a Check—­Transposing Figures—­Writing a Check That Cannot Be Raised—­Writers Who Are Easy Marks for Forgers—­Safeguards for Those Who Write Checks—­An Example of Raised Checks—­Payable “To Bearer” is Always a Menace—­Paying Teller and an Endorsement System Must Be Observed in Writing Checks—­How a Check Must Be Written to Be Absolutely Safe—­A Signature that Cannot Be Tampered with Without Detection—­Paying Tellers Always Vigilant.

Among the casual patrons of the average bank there is a superstition that in presenting a check at a teller’s window the amount of the check shall be determined by the amount spelled out in the body of the check, without regard to the figures written at the top or bottom of the slip.

Nothing could be farther from the facts as they are accepted at the bank window.  As a matter of fact, when a check made out in this erroneous way comes to a teller’s window he is most likely to refuse to pay either amount.  There is no law, written or unwritten, to justify the paying of the amount spelled out in the body of the check, regardless of the group of figures on its face.  This figure group is designed merely to check and justify the written amount, but if there is a discrepancy between the two amounts there is nothing to indicate that it is not the written amount that is wrong and the figure group that is right.

Under such circumstances the chief duty of the teller is to protect the depositor who has drawn the check on his bank.  The person who presents the check for payment manifestly has been a party to the mistake in not having read over the check carefully before receiving it.  If the payee is unknown to the teller and if the discrepancy is at all material, the teller turns the check back with the advice that the payee look up the drawer and have the error corrected.