Kuwait Court of Cassation principle number 3889

Payment by the drawee bank of the amount of a cheque to its first beneficiary when that cheque originally bore a forged signature. It does not discharge the bank's liability toward its customer. The rationale: this instrument never had the character of a cheque because it lacked an essential condition for its existence, namely, the drawer's genuine signature, regardless of the degree of skill in that forgery. The condition for this. No fault or negligence on the customer's part; otherwise, he bears the consequences of his fault. - Presentation by the endorsee of a cheque endorsed by an endorsement transferring ownership to the drawee bank to collect its amount. It does not oblige - 718 - Obligation the bank except to verify the regularity and sequence of the 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 departure from this and its finding the bank liable for paying the cheque because it did not verify the authenticity of the endorser's signature. An error in the application of the law requiring its cassation.