The holder of a bill of exchange, promissory note, or check is the person who has legally acquired the possession of the same, from a person capable of transferring it, by indorsement or delivery, and who is entitled to receive payment of the instrument from the party or parties liable to meet it. Bowling v. Harrison, 6 How. 258, 12 L. Ed. 425; Crocker-Wool worth Nat. Bank v. Nevada Bank, 139 Cal. 564, 73 Pac. 456, 63 L. R. A. 245, 96 Am. St. Rep. 169; Rice v. Hogan, 8 Dana (Ky.) 135; Rev. Laws Mass. 1902, p. 653, f 207. Holder in due course, in English law, is “a holder who has taken a bill of exchange check or note complete and regular on the face of it under the following conditions, namely: (a) That he became the holder of it before it was overdue, and without notice that it had been previously dishonored, if such was the fact, (b) That he took the bill (check or note) in good faith and for value, and that at the time it was negotiated to him he had no notice of any defect in the title of the person who negotiated it.” Bills of Exchange Act. 1882. 45 & 46 Vict. c. 61, f 20.) And see Sutherland v. Mead, 80 App. Div. 103, 80 N. Y. Supp. 504