Kuwait Court of Cassation principle number 3883

Payment by the drawee bank of the amount of a cheque to its first beneficiary where that cheque originally bore a forged signature. It does not discharge the bank's liability towards its customer. The reason for this: that instrument never had the character of a cheque, as it lacked an essential condition for its existence, namely the drawer's valid signature, however skilfully that forgery was executed. The condition for this. Absence of fault or negligence on the customer's part; otherwise he bears the consequences of his own fault. - Presentation by the endorsee of a cheque endorsed by way of transfer of title to the drawee bank to collect its amount. The bank is required only to verify the regularity and sequence of successive endorsements on the cheque and that the person presenting it for payment is the last endorsee; it has no duty to verify the authenticity of the endorsers' signatures. The judgment's contravention of this and its determination that the bank is liable for paying the cheque because it did not verify the validity of the endorser's signature. An error in the application of the law requiring its cassation.