A credit instrument is defined by its support and its specific value.
Credit titles are documents that record and entail the exercise of a private right . Only those who have the document, therefore, can exercise the right in question.
Each credit title is made up of a specific value and the medium that records it: both components are inseparable. When the right is transmitted, the document is transmitted and vice versa. The scope of credit titles, however, depends on the legislation of each country.
Types of credit titles
Promissory notes and bills of exchange are examples of credit instruments classified as typical , since their regulations are detailed in the laws . Other credit titles, on the other hand, are called atypical because they lack specific regulations in the legislation.
Another qualification that applies to promissory notes and bills of exchange is linked to singularity: they are said to be singular credit titles because they are created one by one in each act. The shares of a company are the opposite case as they are serial credit titles , because their creation occurs in series (that is, many shares are created at the same time).
Checks are also credit instruments. In this case, according to how they are transmitted, it is possible to distinguish between bearer titles (they lack the owner's data and their sole possession legitimizes their effect), custom titles (they are issued in favor of a specific person ) and nominative titles (direct and limited transmission).
The check is a type of credit instrument.
Elements of the doctrine
As expected, each credit title has appeared at a different time in history, and for this reason they must be studied taking into account the singularities of each period. However, since the early 1900s, jurists have been seeking to unify the theory, and so all of these documents have fallen into the same category. Let's see below the elements that the doctrine warns about in credit titles, although not all of them are unanimously recognized:
* incorporation : this type of document incorporates a right, so that both are closely linked and to exercise it it is necessary that the first be exhibited. In other words, if the credit instrument is not presented to a person, it is not possible to exercise the right it incorporates. Likewise, possessing one gives us possession of the other;
* legitimation : this is a consequence of the previous element . To exercise the right incorporated in the credit instrument, the holder must legitimize it after its exhibition, and this can occur actively (when the obligation to pay is required) or passively (the debtor fulfills his part when the former proceeds to present the document);
* literality : refers to the fact that the right incorporated in the credit instrument is measured by means of the letter, by what the issuer has written on it. This does not mean that there are no limits, since the law can nullify certain documents, just as other documents can contradict them;
* autonomy : each holder of the document acquires a right that is renewed, which does not derive from that of the previous one or from its restrictions or relations between it and its issuer. When someone receives a title of credit, they automatically become the "first" owner. In the same way, each signatory has an "autonomous" obligation , independent and different from that which the subscriber has had;
* circulation : many authors do not recognize this element, which refers to the destination of all credit titles, which is circular, being transmitted from one person to another . This gives rise to a classification that recognizes the nominative titles and the order , explained in a previous paragraph.