Com. Code, § 3103 · Chapter 1. General Provisions and Definitions
Com. Code, § 3103
Text — As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
(a) In this division:
(1) “Acceptor” means a drawee who has accepted a draft.
(2) “Drawee” means a person ordered in a draft to make payment.
(3) “Drawer” means a person who signs or is identified in a draft as a person ordering payment.
(4) [Reserved]
(5) “Maker” means a person who signs or is identified in a note as a person undertaking to pay.
(6) “Order” means a written instruction to pay money signed by the person giving the instruction. The instruction may be addressed to any person, including the person giving the instruction, or to one or more persons jointly or in the alternative but not in succession. An authorization to pay is not an order unless the person authorized to pay is also instructed to pay.
(7) “Ordinary care” in the case of a person engaged in business means observance of reasonable commercial standards, prevailing in the area in which the person is located, with respect to the business in which the person is engaged. In the case of a bank that takes an instrument for processing for collection or payment by automated means, reasonable commercial standards do not require the bank to examine the instrument if the failure to examine does not violate the bank’s prescribed procedures and the bank’s procedures do not vary unreasonably from general banking usage not disapproved by this division or Division 4 (commencing with Section 4101).
(8) “Party” means a party to an instrument.
(9) “Promise” means a written undertaking to pay money signed by the person undertaking to pay. An acknowledgment of an obligation by the obligor is not a promise unless the obligor also undertakes to pay the obligation.
(10) “Prove” with respect to a fact means to meet the burden of establishing the fact (paragraph (8) of subdivision (b) of Section 1201).
(11) “Remitter” means a person who purchases an instrument from its issuer if the instrument is payable to an identified person other than the purchaser.
(b) Other definitions applying to this division and the sections in which they appear are:
“Acceptance” Section 3409
“Accommodated party” Section 3419
“Accommodation party” Section 3419
“Alteration” Section 3407
“Anomalous endorsement” Section 3205
“Blank endorsement” Section 3205
“Cashier’s check” Section 3104
“Certificate of deposit” Section 3104
“Certified check” Section 3409
“Check” Section 3104
“Consideration” Section 3303
“Demand Draft” Section 3104
“Draft” Section 3104
“Holder in due course” Section 3302
“Incomplete instrument” Section 3115
“Indorsement” Section 3204
“Indorser” Section 3204
“Instrument” Section 3104
“Issue” Section 3105
“Issuer” Section 3105
“Negotiable instrument” Section 3104
“Negotiation” Section 3201
“Note” Section 3104
“Payable at a definite time” Section 3108
“Payable on demand” Section 3108
“Payable to bearer” Section 3109
“Payable to order” Section 3109
“Payment” Section 3602
“Person entitled to enforce” Section 3301
“Presentment” Section 3501
“Reacquisition” Section 3207
“Special indorsement” Section 3205
“Teller’s check” Section 3104
“Transfer of instrument” Section 3203
“Traveler’s check” Section 3104
“Value” Section 3303
(c) The following definitions in other divisions apply to this division:
“Bank” Section 4105
“Banking day” Section 4104
“Clearinghouse” Section 4104
“Collecting bank” Section 4105
“Depositary bank” Section 4105
“Documentary draft” Section 4104
“Intermediary bank” Section 4105
“Item” Section 4104
“Payor bank” Section 4105
“Suspends payments” Section 4104
(d) In addition, Division 1 (commencing with Section 1101) contains general definitions and principles of construction and interpretation applicable throughout this division.
Notes and commentary — not statutory text
History
Amended by Stats. 2006, Ch. 254, Sec. 44. Effective January 1, 2007.
Source of truth
- Edition
- As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
- Official file
- https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=COM§ionNum=3103.
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- compose_ca.py 2026-10-22: the Legislative Counsel's CAML content files read by a tokenizer (caml_readers.reader_a); an independent xml.etree reading (caml_readers.reader_b) agrees on every section
This section cites
Provisions in this library that the text above cites, as it prints each citation. A range cited as “ss. 61.13-61.16” links its first and last provisions.
Commercial Code
- Com. Code, div. 1GENERAL PROVISIONSPrinted as Division 1 (commencing with Section 1101)
- Com. Code, § 1201Printed as Section 1201
- Com. Code, § 3104Printed as Section 3104
- Com. Code, § 3105Printed as Section 3105
- Com. Code, § 3108Printed as Section 3108
- Com. Code, § 3109Printed as Section 3109
- Com. Code, § 3115Printed as Section 3115
- Com. Code, § 3201Printed as Section 3201
- Com. Code, § 3203Printed as Section 3203
- Com. Code, § 3204Printed as Section 3204
- Com. Code, § 3205Printed as Section 3205
- Com. Code, § 3207Printed as Section 3207
- Com. Code, § 3301Printed as Section 3301
- Com. Code, § 3302Printed as Section 3302
- Com. Code, § 3303Printed as Section 3303
- Com. Code, § 3407Printed as Section 3407
- Com. Code, § 3409Printed as Section 3409
- Com. Code, § 3419Printed as Section 3419
- Com. Code, § 3501Printed as Section 3501
- Com. Code, § 3602Printed as Section 3602
- Com. Code, div. 4BANK DEPOSITS AND COLLECTIONSPrinted as Division 4 (commencing with Section 4101)
- Com. Code, § 4104Printed as Section 4104
- Com. Code, § 4105Printed as Section 4105
Cited by 2 provisions
Provisions in this library whose text cites Com. Code, § 3103. Each shows the citation as that text prints it.
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