Chapter 19 Nature and Form of Commercial Paper

Learning Objectives

After reading this chapter, you should understand the following:

  1. Why commercial paper is important in modern economic systems
  2. How the law of commercial paper has developed over the past four hundred years, and what role it plays in economics and finance
  3. What the types of commercial paper are, and who the parties to such paper are
  4. What is required for paper to be negotiable

Here we begin our examination of commercial paper, documents representing an obligation by one party to pay another money. You are familiar with one kind of commercial paper: a check.