A person signs and hands to another a paper bearing the proper stamp duty, leaving the amount blank so that it can be filled in later as a promissory note. What does the Negotiable Instruments Act,…

Section 20 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 deals with an inchoate stamped instrument: a signed and delivered stamped paper, blank or incomplete, gives the holder prima facie authority to complete it as a negotiable instrument for any amount covered by the stamp. An ambiguous instrument under section 17 can be read as either a note or a bill, and an endorsement in blank under section 16 names no endorsee.