{"id":859,"date":"2015-09-10T19:05:14","date_gmt":"2015-09-11T02:05:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fiduciarydutiesblog.com\/?p=859"},"modified":"2015-09-10T19:05:14","modified_gmt":"2015-09-11T02:05:14","slug":"the-ucc-remains-relevant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fresnolawyerblog.com\/?p=859","title":{"rendered":"The UCC Remains Relevant"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Uniform Commercial Code covers a wide scope of commercial transactions, from the sale of goods to warehouse receipts to secured transactions.\u00a0 Article 3 deals with promissory notes, sometimes referred to as negotiable instruments.<\/p>\n

In his 2012 book,\u00a0 The End of Negotiable Instruments<\/strong>, James Steven Rogers argued that most of the law contained in Article 3 of the Uniform Commercial Code lost real-world relevance long ago.<\/p>\n

Rogers echoed Grant Gilmore<\/strong>, who famously described Article 3 as \u201cmuseum of antiquities \u2013 a treasure house crammed full of ancient artifacts whose use and function have long since been forgotten.\u201d\u00a0 Grant Gilmore, Formalism and the Law of Negotiable Instruments<\/strong>, 13 Creighton L. Rev. 441, 461 (1979).<\/p>\n

Gilmore had a brilliant mind, and glib turn of phrase.\u00a0 His quote is often-repeated:\u00a0 \u201cCodification \u2026 preserve[d] the past like a fly in amber.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Fresno<\/a><\/p>\n

Not so fast.\u00a0 Article 3 continues to provide useful guidance, right through the mortgage crisis.\u00a0 One of the pre-eminent scholars of commercial law is Alvin C. Harrell<\/strong>, a Professor of Law at Oklahoma City University School of Law.\u00a0 Prof. Harrell is the Executive Director of the Conference on Consumer Finance Law; a member of the American Law Institute (ALI); and a member of the American College of Commercial Finance Lawyers.<\/p>\n

Heed carefully Prof. Harrell\u2019s following comments on the Uniform Commercial Code.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese cases reinforce the observation that the UCC is the most carefully-drafted statute in history.\u00a0 It can be noted that UCC Articles 3 and 4 are written in relatively clear and simple terms and yet answer most of the legal questions that arise within their scope.\u00a0 It is rare for a modern statute to do this, but the UCC does so on a regular, even continual basis.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe result is exceptional legal clarity as to important yet routine transactions.\u00a0 Those of us who conduct these transactions should not fail to appreciate the benefits of this legal environment.\u00a0 It is surely a key factor in the continuing prosperity that we often take for granted.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, and as noted by others, it is easier to disrupt such a structure than to create or preserve it.\u00a0 The UCC was one of the great achievements of the Twentieth Century.\u00a0 Keeping it may be one of the great challenges of the Twenty-first.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alvin C. Harrell, \u201c2014 UCC Articles 3 and 4 Update,\u201d in Consumer Finance Law Quarterly<\/strong>, Vol. 68, No. 3 (2014)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Uniform Commercial Code covers a wide scope of commercial transactions, from the sale of goods to warehouse receipts to secured transactions.\u00a0 Article 3 deals with promissory notes, sometimes referred to as negotiable instruments. In his 2012 book,\u00a0 The End of Negotiable Instruments, James Steven Rogers argued that most of the law contained in Article […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-859","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-law-reviews","category-legal-history"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fresnolawyerblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/859"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fresnolawyerblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fresnolawyerblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fresnolawyerblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fresnolawyerblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=859"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/fresnolawyerblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/859\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fresnolawyerblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=859"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fresnolawyerblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=859"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fresnolawyerblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=859"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}