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District of Columbia Official Code 2001 Edition. |
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Division V. Local Business Affairs. |
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Title 28. Commercial Instruments and Transactions. |
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Subtitle I. Uniform Commercial Code. |
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Article 7. Warehouse Receipts, Bills of Lading and Other Documents of Title. |
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Part 5. Warehouse Receipts and Bills of Lading: Negotiation and Transfer.
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Current through October 23, 2012
(1) A document of title confers no right in goods against a person who before issuance of the document had a legal interest or a perfected security interest in them and who neither:
(a) Delivered or entrusted them or any document of title coverings them to the bailor or his nominee with actual or apparent authority to ship, store or sell or with power to obtain delivery under this article (section 28:7-403) or with power of disposition under this subtitle (sections 28:2-403 and 28:9-320) or other statute or rule of law; nor
(b) Acquiesced in the procurement by the bailor or his nominee of any document of title.
(2) Title to goods based upon an unaccepted delivery order is subject to the rights of anyone to whom a negotiable warehouse receipt or bill of lading covering the goods has been duly negotiated. Such a title may be defeated under the next section to the same extent as the rights of the issuer or a transferee from the issuer.
(3) Title to goods based upon a bill of lading issued to a freight forwarder is subject to the rights of anyone to whom a bill issued by the freight forwarder is duly negotiated; but delivery by the carrier in accordance with part 4 of this article, pursuant to its own bill of lading discharges the carrier's obligation to deliver.
(Dec. 30, 1963, 77 Stat. 729, Pub. L. 88-243, § 1; Oct. 26, 2000, D.C. Law 13-201, § 201(h), 47 DCR 7576.)
HISTORICAL AND STATUTORY NOTES
UNIFORM COMMERCIAL CODE COMMENT
Prior Uniform Statutory Provision
Section 33, Uniform Sales Act; Section 41, Uniform Warehouse Receipts Act; Section 32, Uniform Bills of Lading Act.Changes
Subsection (1) narrows, as compared to the cited sections, the occasions for defeating the document holder's title.Purposes of Changes
1. In general it may be said that the title of a purchaser by due negotiation prevails over almost any interest in the goods which existed prior to the procurement of the document of title if the possession of the goods by the person obtaining the document derived from any action by the prior claimant which introduced the goods into the stream of commerce or carried them along that stream. A thief of the goods cannot indeed by shipping or storing them to his own order acquire power to transfer them to a good faith purchaser. Nor can a tenant or mortgagor defeat any rights of a landlord or mortgagee which have been perfected under the local law merely by wrongfully shipping or storing a portion of the crop or other goods. However, "acquiescence" by the landlord or tenant does not require active consent under subsection (1)(b) and knowledge of the likelihood of storage or shipment with no objection or effort to control it is sufficient to defeat his rights as against one who takes by "due" negotiation of a negotiable document.
On the other hand, where goods are delivered to a factor for sale, even though the factor has made no advances and is limited in his duty to sell for cash, the goods are "entrusted" to him "with actual ... authority ... to sell" under subsection (1)(a), and if he procures a negotiable document of title he can transfer the owner's interest to a purchaser by due negotiation. Further, where the factor is in the business of selling, goods entrusted to him simply for safekeeping or storage may be entrusted under circumstances which give him "apparent authority to ship, store or sell" under subsection (1)(a), or power of disposition under Section 2-403, 7-205 or 9-307, or under a statute such as the earlier Factors Acts, or under a rule of law giving effect to apparent ownership. See Section 1-103.
Persons having an interest in goods also frequently deliver or entrust them to agents or servants other than factors for the purpose of shipping or warehousing or under circumstances reasonably contemplating such action. Rounding out the case law development under the prior Acts, this Act is clear that such persons assume full risk that the agent to whom the goods are so delivered may ship or store in breach of duty, take a document to his own order and then proceed to misappropriate it. This Act makes no distinction between possession or mere custody in such situations and finds no exception in the case of larceny by a bailee or the like. The safeguard in such situations lies in the requirement that a due negotiation can occur only "in the regular course of business or financing" and that the purchase be in good faith and without notice. See Section 7-501. Documents of title have no market among the commercially inexperienced and the commercially experienced do not take them without inquiry from persons known to be truck drivers or petty clerks even though such persons purport to be operating in their own names.
Again, where the seller allows a buyer to receive goods under a contract for sale, though as a "conditional delivery" or under "cash sale" terms and on explicit agreement for immediate payment, the buyer thereby acquires power to defeat the seller's interest by transfer of the goods to certain good faith purchasers. See Section 2-403. Both in policy and under the language of subsection (1)(a) that same power must be extended to accomplish the same result if the buyer procures a negotiable document of title to the goods and duly negotiates it.
2. Under subsection (1) a delivery order issued by a person having no right in or power over the goods is ineffective unless the owner acts as provided in subsection (1)(a) or (b). Thus the rights of a transferee of a non-negotiable warehouse receipt can be defeated by a delivery order subsequently issued by the transferor only if the transferee "delivers or entrusts" to the "person procuring" the delivery order or "acquiesces" in his procurement. Similarly, a second delivery order issued by the same issuer for the same goods will ordinarily be subject to the first, both under this section and under Section 7-402. After a delivery order is validly issued but before it is accepted, it may nevertheless be defeated under subsection (2) in much the same way that the rights of a transferee may be defeated under Section 7-504. For example, a buyer in ordinary course from the issuer may defeat the rights of the holder of a prior delivery order if the bailee receives notification of the buyer's rights before notification of the holder's rights. Section 7- 504(2)(b). But an accepted delivery order has the same effect as a document issued by the bailee.
3. Under subsection (3) a bill of lading issued to a freight forwarder is subordinated to the freight forwarder's certificate, since the bill on its face gives notice of the fact that a freight forwarder is in the picture and has in all probability issued a certificate. But the carrier is protected in following the terms of its own bill of lading.
Cross References
Point 1: Sections 2-403, 7-205, 7-501, 9-307, and 9-309.
Point 2: Sections 7-402 and 7-504.
Point 3: Sections 7-402, 7-403 and 7-404.
Definitional Cross References
"Bill of lading". Section 1-201.
"Contract for sale". Section 2-106.
"Delivery". Section 1-201.
"Delivery order". Section 7-102.
"Document". Section 7-102.
"Document of title". Section 1-201.
"Duly negotiate". Section 7-501.
"Goods". Section 7-102.
"Person". Section 1-201.
"Right". Section 1-201.
"Warehouse receipt". Section 1-201.
Prior Codifications
1981 Ed., § 28:7-503.
1973 Ed., § 28:7-503.
Effect of Amendments
D.C. Law 13-201, enacting a new Article 9 of the Uniform Commercial Code applicable July 1, 2001, made conforming amendments to this section applicable upon the same date.
Legislative History of Laws
Law 13-201, the "Uniform Commercial Code Secured Transactions Revision Act of 2000," was introduced in Council and assigned Bill No. 13-370, which was referred to the Committee on Finance and Revenue. The Bill was adopted on first and second readings on June 6, 2000, and July 11, 2000, respectively. Signed by the Mayor on August 11, 2000, it was assigned Act No. 13-434 and transmitted to both Houses of Congress for its review. D.C. Law 13-201 became effective on October 26, 2000.
