                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

NEGOTIABLE INSTRUMENT (§ 8.3A-104)

a. Except as provided in subsections (c) and (d), &#8220;negotiable
instrument&#8221; 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 it:

   1. is payable to bearer or to order at the time it is issued or first comes
   into possession of a holder;

   2. is payable on demand or at a definite time; and

   3. 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 (i) an undertaking or power to give, maintain, or
   protect collateral to secure payment, (ii) an authorization or power to the
   holder to confess judgment or realize on or dispose of collateral, (iii) a
   waiver of the benefit of any law intended for the advantage or protection of
   an obligor, (iv) a term that specifies the law that governs the promise or
   order, or (v) an undertaking to resolve in a specified forum a dispute
   concerning the promise or order.

b. &#8220;Instrument&#8221; means a negotiable instrument.

c. An order that meets all of the requirements of subsection (a), except
paragraph (1), and otherwise falls within the definition of &#8220;check&#8221;
in subsection (f) is a negotiable instrument and a check.

d. A promise or order other than a check is not an instrument if, at the time 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 title.

e. An instrument is a &#8220;note&#8221; if it is a promise and is a
&#8220;draft&#8221; if it is an order. If an instrument falls within the
definition of both &#8220;note&#8221; and &#8220;draft,&#8221; a person entitled
to enforce the instrument may treat it as either.

f. &#8220;Check&#8221; means (i) a draft, other than a documentary draft,
payable on demand and drawn on a bank or (ii) a cashier&#8217;s check or
teller&#8217;s check. An instrument may be a check even though it is described
on its face by another term, such as &#8220;money order.&#8221;

g. &#8220;Cashier&#8217;s check&#8221; means a draft with respect to which the
drawer and drawee are the same bank or branches of the same bank.

h. &#8220;Teller&#8217;s check&#8221; means a draft drawn by a bank (i) on
another bank, or (ii) payable at or through a bank.

i. &#8220;Traveler&#8217;s check&#8221; means an instrument that (i) is payable
on demand, (ii) is drawn on or payable at or through a bank, (iii) is designated
by the term &#8220;traveler&#8217;s check&#8221; or by a substantially similar
term, and (iv) requires, as a condition to payment, a countersignature by a
person whose specimen signature appears on the instrument.

j. &#8220;Certificate of deposit&#8221; 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.

HISTORY: Code 1950, §§ 6-353, 6-354, 6-357, 6-358, 6-537, 6-538, 6-544; 1960,
c. 29; 1964, c. 219, §§ 8.3-102, 8.3-104, 8.3-106, 8.3-112, 8.3-118; 1992, c.
693; 2024, c. 652.