Q.A bill of exchange dated 15th January 2024 is made payable 'three months after date'. Calculate the date of maturity of the bill, showing the calculation of the term and the days of grace. (Assume the calculated date does not fall on a day when banks are closed.)

Finding a maturity date always takes two steps in sequence — first locate the calendar date the stated period points to, and only then add the statutory days of grace on top of it. …

Step 1 — Find the calendar date three months after the bill's date. The bill is dated 15th January 2024 and is payable 'three months after date'. Counting the same date of the month forward by three months: 15th January → 15th February → 15th March → 15th April 2024. So the stated period alone points to 15th April 2024.

Step 2 — Add the three days of grace (Section 22). Since this is a bill of exchange payable at a fixed period after date, Section 22 adds three days of grace on top of the calendar date found in Step 1: 15th April 2024 + 3 days = 18th April 2024. …

Alternative check: count total elapsed calendar days directly from 15 Jan to 15 Apr 2024 (31 + 29 + 31 = 91 days, since 2024 is a leap year), then add 3 days of grace (91 + 3 = 94 days from 15 Jan …

The most common error is forgetting to add the three days of grace at all and stopping at 15th April 2024. A second common error is applying the grace-days rule when the instrument is a cheque (which gets no days of grace) instead of a bill of exchange or promissory note payable after a fixed period. A third err …