Definition
A billet de change is a contract or written engagement, originating in French commercial law, by which a party promises to deliver a bill of exchange (lettre de change) at a future time when the party is not presently in a position to furnish one. It is not itself a bill of exchange but rather a preliminary instrument — a commitment to produce one. Bouvier also records a secondary use: a contract to pay the value of a bill of exchange already furnished, though this meaning appears less frequently in the sources.
In practical terms, the billet de change served as a bridge instrument in commercial transactions where the underlying bill could not yet be drawn — whether because a drawee had not yet been identified, the sum was not yet fixed, or other conditions remained unsettled.
Common Confusion
The billet de change is distinct from the lettre de change (bill of exchange proper). Pothier, cited by Burrill, drew this line explicitly: the lettre de change is a completed negotiable instrument; the billet de change is a contractual promise to produce one. A researcher encountering either term in historical French commercial sources should not treat them as interchangeable. The billet de change also differs from a promissory note (billet à ordre), which is a direct promise to pay money, not a promise to furnish a bill.
Why It Matters in Research
This term appears almost exclusively in historical sources dealing with French commercial law and in American and English treatises that drew on French commercial doctrine — particularly Story's Commentaries on the Law of Bills of Exchange, which is the anchor citation across all four source dictionaries. Researchers working with early American commercial law will find the term referenced as context for understanding what a bill of exchange is not, rather than as a live instrument with domestic application.
The key research trap is treating the billet de change as a synonym for any preliminary commercial document or note. It is a term of art with a specific French legal meaning, and its appearance in American sources reflects the influence of continental commercial doctrine on early Anglo-American commercial law scholarship, not evidence that the instrument had recognized legal status in American courts.
Because the term's relevance is primarily doctrinal and historical rather than transactional, it surfaces most often in treatise literature and law dictionaries rather than in reported cases. The Rapalje & Lawrence entry illustrates this: the billet de change definition is immediately followed by unrelated annotations on bills generally, suggesting the term functioned as a definitional reference point rather than as a litigated concept in American practice.
Researchers tracing the genealogy of American negotiable instruments law — particularly the intellectual debt owed to Pothier and French commercial codes — will find the billet de change a useful marker of that continental influence. Story's Bills is the indispensable primary source for this thread.
Historical Dictionary Support
The four source dictionaries are in substantial agreement on the core definition, all tracing the term to Story's Bills and, behind Story, to Guyot's Répertoire Universel and Pothier. The agreement is so close that Rapalje & Lawrence and Black's share nearly identical language, both apparently drawing directly from Story rather than independently from French sources.
Bouvier adds the secondary meaning — a contract to pay the value of a bill already furnished — citing Guyot directly. This dual definition in Bouvier reflects a broader scope than the other dictionaries assign, and researchers should note that Bouvier is the only source here to flag this second use explicitly.
Burrill's entry is the most analytically useful for doctrine: it is the only one that directly quotes Pothier's distinction between the billet de change and the lettre de change, grounding the term in its original jurisprudential context rather than merely restating Story's note. For researchers who need the French law foundation rather than just the American treatise gloss, Burrill's reference to Pothier is the entry point.
None of the historical dictionaries address whether the billet de change had any operative legal effect in American or English courts. The term appears in all four as a doctrinal reference, not as a practically applicable instrument. This silence is itself informative: it confirms the term's role as comparative background rather than actionable law.
Jurisdictional Note
The billet de change is a concept of French commercial law with no direct equivalent as a recognized instrument in American or English law. Its appearance in American legal dictionaries reflects comparative and scholarly usage. Researchers should not expect to find it as a cause of action or recognized instrument category in American case reporters.