Fall 2009 Course Schedule

Negotiable Instruments (LAW-616-001)
Effross

Meets: 01:30 PM - 02:50 PM (WF) - Room 402

Enrolled: 9 / Limit: 14

Administrator Access


Notices

There are no notices at this time.

Description

On its most basic level, this course analyzes and applies the rules governing the “payment systems” of negotiable instruments, funds transfers, and credit cards.

We will focus primarily on the processes by which a party’s paper or electronic promise (note) or order (draft) to pay money can be acquired– by gift, purchase, fraud, theft, or windfall– by subsequent parties in turn, and what the respective rights and liabilities of the parties are in such situations. Almost immediately, for instance, we will be discussing practical concerns– a number of which are unfamiliar even to many lawyers– about drafting, indorsing, and depositing checks.

Practical themes of the course include: the identifying characteristics of notes and drafts; the non-colloquial definitions of “signature” and “forgery” under the Uniform Commercial Code; the liability of employers for negotiable-instruments-related fraud by their employees; the role of banks in honoring and dishonoring checks; and the ways in which the Code treats negotiable instruments both as contracts and as pieces of personal property.

On a more general level, we will work extensively with many different sections of Articles 3, 4, and 4A of the Uniform Commercial Code. This brightly-lit legal landscape, marked by centuries-old pathways of practice, contains few places for the shadows of ambiguity to lurk. Many students find a refreshing precision in the elements of the Code, and a sense of satisfaction in mastering the interpretation and interaction of these provisions. Under the Code, as in chess, complex situations can easily emerge from a limited number of pieces and rules; and, as in chess, there exist strategies to evaluate, analyze, and resolve even the most complicated of these situations. This course helps students develop skill in identifying and applying such statutory strategies.

Finally, this course examines the ways in which commercial practice and the Code have evolved in response to the transformation from purely paper-based payment methods to credit card payments and electronic funds transfers to the new technological systems of debit cards and stored-value cards.

This course does not require any previous knowledge of, or experience with, business or business law. The Sales and Secured Transactions course(s), which address other Articles of the Uniform Commercial Code, are not prerequisites for Negotiable Instruments.

Textbooks and Other Materials

The textbook information on this page was provided by the instructor. Students should use this information when considering purchases from the AU Campus Store or other vendors. Students may check to determine if books are currently available for purchase online.

Nickles, Matheson & Adams, Modern Commercial Paper ISBN # 0-314-03240-1 (10-digit) or 978-0314-032-409 (13-digit) West

Brook, Payment Systems: Examples and Explanations, 3rd ed. (2007) ISBN # 0-7355-62423 Aspen

Selected Commercial Statutes 2009 ISBN # 978-0314-205-797 (available in June) West

I recognize that this set of books represents a substantial expense. Several copies of the Examples & Explanations book will be on reserve in the library throughout the semester.

Because the University Bookstore has not always reliably obtained required books on time, you might consider other (including online) options.

First Class Readings

First Readings

For our first class session, please browse through the material in the Course Memorandum, Handout 1 and the material in Section 1A of Syllabus #1.

Beginning on Wednesday, August 19, the Course Memorandum, Handout 1, and Syllabus #1 (which you will be able to download next week from the course’s Web page) will be available in one package from the Course Distribution Office (Room 465) for $15.00, to be paid in full by check, credit card, or money order (not cash) when you pick up these materials.

*Please note that although these three documents are brief, the $15.00 fee covers the cost of handouts (the remainder of which will be distributed during class sessions) for the remainder of the semester.

Syllabus

Use your MyAU username and password to access the syllabus in the following format(s):