Commercial Paper Flashcards
The analysis of a problem concerning a negotiable instrument involves these basic questions:
a. What is the nature of the instrument?(1) Is the instrument negotiable, and has it been negotiated?b. Who is the plaintiff, and what are the plaintiff’s rights?(1) Is the plaintiff a holder in due course?c. Who is the defendant, and what is the nature of the defendant’s liability?d. What is the defendant’s defense?(1) Is the defense raised one that is cut off?
What is a note?
A note is a two-party instrument in which one party (the maker) promises to pay a second party (the payee a sum of money
What is a draft?
A draft is a three-party instrument in which one party (the drawer) orders a second party (the drawee or payor) to pay a sum of money to a third party (the payee)
What is a check?
A check is a draft drawn upon a bank and payable on demand, a cashier’s check or teller’s check, or a payee-initiated demand draftNote: An instrument may be a check even though it is described on its face by another term, such as money order
What is a cashier’s check?
A draft on which the drawer and drawee are the same bank or branches of the same bank.
What is a teller’s check?
A draft drawn by a bank on another bank or payable at or through a bank
What is a traveler’s check?
A traveler’s check is an instrument that is payable on demand, drawn on or payable at or through a bank, and designated by the term ‘’traveler’s check’’ or by a substantially similar term.
Requirements of a Negotiable Instrument?
**Must be addressed on any UCC 3 Question:1. Signed Writing2. Contain an unconditional promise or order3. To pay a fixed amount of money4. Payable to order or to bearer5. Payable on demand or at a definite time6. And contain no undertaking or instruction
Whether an instrument is negotiable is a matter of form, and the determination must be made from:
The four corners of the instrument.
Opt Out Provision?
A promise or order other than a check is not an instrument if it contains a conspicuous statement that it is not negotiable or not governed by Article 3
Forging or signing without authority:
Is deemed to be your signature rather than the one you forged
Difference between promise and order?
An order is a written instruction to pay money signed by the person giving the instruction A promise is a written undertaking to pay money signed by the person undertaking to pay
A promise or order is conditional if it:
- Contains an express condition to payment;2. States that it is subject to, or governed by, another writing; or3. States that rights or obligations with respect to it are stated in another writing.**If there is a condition, negotiability is destroyed.
Things that don’t defeat the unconditional requirement:
As long as the condition is not stated on the face of the negotiable instrument, it is okay. Implied conditions are okay.”Subject to…” - Not okay.
Do interests violate fixed amount requirement?
An instrument is not payable with interest unless it specifies otherwise.Interest may be stated as a fixed or variable amount of money, or as a fixed or variable rate, must be ascertainable.
If the interest amount is unascertainable…
Interest is payable at the rate payable on judgments at the place and time that interest first accrues
How does the code define money?
Must be paid in money!Money means a medium of exchange currently authorized or adopted by a domestic or foreign government.An instrument is rendered nonnegotiable if the obligor agrees to pay in goods or services, even as an alternative option.
A check that is not payable to bearer or order, but that otherwise satisfies all the requirements for negotiability…
is negotiable.
An instrument is payable to bearer if it:
(a) states it is payable to bearer or order of bearer;(b) does not state a payee;(c) states it is payable to cash; or(d) indicates it is not payable to an identified person.
An instrument is payable to order if:
It is payable to the order of an identified person or to an identified person or order
If an instrument contains both order and bearer language…
the bearer language controls
If an instrument is made payable to two or more persons jointly (e.g., “X and Y”):
It is payable to all of them; and it may be negotiated, discharged, or enforced only by all of them; neither, acting alone, can be the holder of the instrument.
If an instrument is ambiguous as to whether it is payable to the persons alternatively or jointly, the instrument is payable to:
The persons alternatively (e.g., an instrument payable to “X and/or Y” is treated like an instrument payable to “X or Y”).
An instrument is payable at a definite time if it is payable:
Certainty - Definiteness is KEY!(a) at the end of a definite period of time (e.g., in 90 days);(b) at a fixed date (e.g., December 31, 2029); or(c) at a time readily ascertainable at the time of issue
An instrument is payable at a definite time EVEN if it is subject to the rights of:
1) prepayment;2) acceleration;3) extension at the holder’s option; or4) extension to a further definite time at the maker’s option or automatically upon or after a specified act or event.
Undertakings that do not destroy negotiability:
(a) an undertaking or power to maintain or protect collateral to secure payment;(b) an authorization or power to confess judgment or realize on, or dispose of, collateral; or(c) a promise or provision waiving benefit of any law intended for the obligor’s protection.
Define Negotiation
A voluntary or involuntary transfer of possession of an instrument by a person other than the issuer to a person who thereby becomes its holder
If an instrument is payable to an identified person (i.e., an order instrument), negotiation requires:
Transfer of possession of the instrument and indorsement by the holder.
If an instrument is payable to bearer, it may be negotiated by:
Transfer of possession alone
What is Issuance?
Issue means the first delivery of an instrument by the maker or drawer for the purpose of giving rights on the instrument to any person, generally the payee.
What is transfer?
The transfer of an instrument occurs when it is delivered by a person other than its issuer for the purpose of giving the right to enforce the instrument to the person receiving delivery (i.e., with intent)
What is an Indorsement?
An indorsement is a signature, other than that of a signer as maker, drawer, or acceptor, that alone or accompanied by other words is made on an instrument to negotiate the instrument, restrict payment of the instrument, or incur the indorser’s liability on the instrument
What are Blank Indorsements and Significance?
A blank indorsement is simply the name of the transferor written on the back of the instrument.If the indorsement is blank, then the instrument becomes bearer paper and the transferee can further negotiate by delivery alone
What are Special Indorsements and Significance?
A special indorsement names the transferee and directs payment to him.If the indorsement is special, then the instrument becomes order paper and the transferee’s indorsement is necessary for further negotiation
When an order instrument is transferred by delivery without an indorsement:
This does not operate as a negotiation and the transferee has a specifically enforceable right to the unqualified indorsement of the transferor
The holder may convert a blank indorsement that consists only of a signature into a special indorsement by:
Writing above the signature of the indorser, with words identifying the person to whom the instrument is payable
What is an Anomalous indorsement?
An anomalous indorsement is one made by a person other than the holder. Such an indorsement is extraneous to the chain of title and has no effect on the manner in which the instrument may be negotiated.However, such indorsement may create liability on the instrument for the indorser.
What is the rule on restrictive indorsements?
An indorsement limiting payment to a particular person or otherwise prohibiting further transfer or negotiation of the instrument will not prevent further transfer or negotiation of the instrument (Illegal restraint on alienation)
When the name stated on the instrument is different from the name of the holder:
He may indorse the instrument either as his name is stated on the instrument or as it really is.Signature in both names may be required by the bank just as a pragmatic matter
If a minor or incapacitated person negotiates an instrument:
The negotiation is effective (however, still voidable) to transfer the instrument even though the person may not undertake the contractual obligations of an indorser or be responsible for breach of warranty
A minor or incapacitated person may rescind in an appropriate case, but an attempted rescission is not good against:
A subsequent holder in due course or a person paying the instrument in good faith and without knowledge of facts that are a basis for rescission
What is Presentment?
To obtain payment of a negotiable instrument, demand is generally made upon the person expected to pay (the maker of a note or the drawee of a draft) and signed on the back.
Persons entitled to enforce a negotiable instrument include:
a. the holder or a holder in due course,b. a non-holder in possession of the instrument who has the rights of a holder, ANDc. a person not in possession who is nonetheless entitled to enforce the instrument.
Who is a holder?
A person who is in possession of an instrument drawn, issued or indorsed to him or to his order or to bearer or in blank.
What qualifies as possession?
A holder has both possession of and rights to the instrument.
Who is the first holder?
The first holder is the payee of the instrument.
Who are subsequent holders?
Persons to whom an instrument has been effectively negotiated.
Requirement for necessary indorsements?
Necessary indorsements are those of all parties who took the paper as order paper; for the possessor of the instrument to be a holder, all necessary indorsements must be valid.
What is the rule on forged indorsements?
The default rule is that a forgedindorsement prevents any future possessor of the instrument from being a holder.The forgery breaks the chain of title; once someone forges an indorsement, no one else can be a holder of the instrument
IF the payee is “fictitious,” THEN:
An indorsement of the instrument by anyone in the name of the payee is effective in favor ofa person who, in good faith, gives value for the instrument.**The fictitious payee rule is most often applied when an employee attempts to defraud his employer