honey (01/07/83)
Nearly every state has adopted the Uniform Commercial Code. In Article 3,
Commercial Paper, the term "check" is defined (Section 3-104):
1 Any writing to be a negotiable instrument within this Article must
a be signed by the maker or drawer; and
b contain an unconditional promise or order to pay a sum certain in
money and no other promise, order, obligation or power given by the
maker or drawer except as authorized by this Article; and
c be payable on demand or at a definite time; and
d be payable to order or to bearer.
2 a writing which complies with the requirements of this section is
a a "draft" ("bill of exchange") if it is an order;
b a "check" if it is a draft drawn on a bank and payable on demand;
c a "certificate of deposit" if it is an acknowledgment by a bank of
receipt of money with an engagement to repay it;
d a "note" if it is a promise other than a certificate of deposit.
The "Official Comment" is explicit: "Any writing which meets the requirements
of subsection 1 and is not excluded under Section 3-103 is a negotiable
instrument, and all sections of this Article apply to it ..."
Section 3-103 subjects instruments to the Article on Bank Deposits and
Collections which, among other things, allows the Federal Reserve and its
clearing houses certain variances to accommodate volume. (It also specifies
that a branch office of a bank is taken to be a separate bank.) Nonetheless,
this Article states that the person to whose order the check is drawn may
transfer, negotiate, discharge or enforce payment of it at any time (3-301).
Jerry Leichter's note (yale-com.615) is succinct and accurate.
peter honeyman