403.103(1)(d)
(d) "Good faith" means honesty in fact and the observance of reasonable commercial standards of fair dealing.
403.103(1)(e)
(e) "Maker" means a person who signs or is identified in a note as a person undertaking to pay.
403.103(1)(f)
(f) "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.
403.103(1)(g)
(g) "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 chapter or
ch. 404.
403.103(1)(i)
(i) "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.
403.103(1)(j)
(j) "Prove" with respect to a fact means to meet the burden of establishing a fact, as defined in
s. 401.201 (8).
403.103(1)(k)
(k) "Remitter" means a person who purchases an instrument from its issuer if the instrument is payable to an identified person other than the purchaser.
403.103(2)
(2) Other definitions applying to this chapter and the sections in which they appear are:
403.103(3)
(3) The following definitions in other chapters apply to this chapter:
403.103(4)
(4) In addition,
ch. 401 contains general definitions and principles of construction and interpretation applicable throughout this chapter.
403.103 History
History: 1995 a. 449.
403.104
403.104
Negotiable instrument. 403.104(1)
(1) Except as provided in
subs. (3) and
(4), "negotiable instrument" means an unconditional promise or order to pay a fixed amount of money, with or without interest or other charges described in the promise or order, if all of the following apply:
403.104(1)(a)
(a) It is payable to bearer or to order at the time that it is issued or first comes into possession of a holder.
403.104(1)(c)
(c) It does not state any other undertaking or instruction by the person promising or ordering payment to do any act in addition to the payment of money, but the promise or order may contain any of the following:
403.104(1)(c)1.
1. An undertaking or power to give, maintain or protect collateral to secure payment.
403.104(1)(c)2.
2. An authorization or power to the holder to confess judgment or realize on or dispose of collateral.
403.104(1)(c)3.
3. A waiver of the benefit of any law intended for the advantage or protection of an obligor.
403.104(2)
(2) "Instrument" means a negotiable instrument.
403.104(3)
(3) An order that meets all of the requirements of
sub. (1), except
sub. (1) (a), and otherwise falls within the definition of check in
sub. (6) is a negotiable instrument and a check.
403.104(4)
(4) A promise or order other than a check is not an instrument if, at the time that it is issued or first comes into possession of a holder, it contains a conspicuous statement, however expressed, to the effect that the promise or order is not negotiable or is not an instrument governed by this chapter.
403.104(5)
(5) An instrument is a note if it is a promise and is a draft if it is an order. If an instrument falls within the definition of both note and draft, a person entitled to enforce the instrument may treat it as either.
403.104(6)
(6) "Check" means a draft, other than a documentary draft, payable on demand and drawn on a bank or means a cashier's check or teller's check. An instrument may be a check even though it is described on its face by another term, such as money order.
403.104(7)
(7) "Cashier's check" means a draft with respect to which the drawer and drawee are the same bank or branches of the same bank.
403.104(8)
(8) "Teller's check" means a draft drawn by a bank on another bank, or payable at or through a bank.
403.104(9)
(9) "Traveler's check" means an instrument that is payable on demand, that is drawn on or payable at or through a bank, that is designated by the term "traveler's check" or by a substantially similar term, and that requires, as a condition to payment, a countersignature by a person whose specimen signature appears on the instrument.
403.104(10)
(10) "Certificate of deposit" means an instrument containing an acknowledgment by a bank that a sum of money has been received by the bank and a promise by the bank to repay the sum of money. A certificate of deposit is a note of the bank.
403.104 History
History: 1995 a. 449.
403.105
403.105
Issue of instrument. 403.105(1)(1) "Issue" means the first delivery of an instrument by the maker or drawer, whether to a holder or nonholder, for the purpose of giving rights on the instrument to any person.
403.105(2)
(2) An unissued instrument, or an unissued incomplete instrument that is completed, is binding on the maker or drawer, but nonissuance is a defense. An instrument that is conditionally issued or is issued for a special purpose is binding on the maker or drawer, but failure of the condition or special purpose to be fulfilled is a defense.
403.105(3)
(3) "Issuer" applies to issued and unissued instruments and means a maker or drawer of an instrument.
403.105 History
History: 1995 a. 449.
403.106
403.106
Unconditional promise or order. 403.106(1)(a)(a) Except as otherwise provided in this section, for the purposes of
s. 403.104 (1), a promise or order is unconditional unless it states any of the following:
403.106(1)(a)2.
2. That the promise or order is subject to or governed by another writing.
403.106(1)(a)3.
3. That rights or obligations with respect to the promise or order are stated in another writing.
403.106(1)(b)
(b) A reference to another writing does not of itself make the promise or order conditional.
403.106(2)
(2) A promise or order is not made conditional by a reference to another writing for a statement of rights with respect to collateral, prepayment or acceleration or because payment is limited to resort to a particular fund or source.
403.106(3)
(3) If a promise or order requires, as a condition to payment, a countersignature by a person whose specimen signature appears on the promise or order, the condition does not make the promise or order conditional for the purposes of
s. 403.104 (1). If the person whose specimen signature appears on an instrument fails to countersign the instrument, the failure to countersign is a defense to the obligation of the issuer, but the failure does not prevent a transferee of the instrument from becoming a holder of the instrument.
