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The End of Negotiable Instruments: Bringing Payments Systems Law Out of the Past James S. Rogers (New York: Oxford University Press, 2011) 251 + xxi pp. US$95
I have been waiting for someone to write this book since I stopped teaching the law of negotiable instruments ten years ago. Even then the area seemed anti-quated and more and more irrelevant to modem commercial transactions. What I was most eagerly anticipating was an explanation for the persistence of nineteenth century rules and concepts governing bills, notes, and cheques. While The End of Negotiable Instruments is very much focused on American negotiable instruments law and Articles 3 and 4 of the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC), it nonetheless provides insight into why Canadian as well as American negotiable instruments law is the way it is today and why it is likely to stay that way.
Professor Rogers' stated goal is to explain how the modem American law of negotiable instruments has been distorted by the failure to understand its history and he succeeds admirably in achieving his aim. His thesis is that, because of this failure to understand history, there is so little of value left in the statutory law governing checks and promissory notes that repeal or radical revision is the best solution. However, he admits that neither repeal nor radical revision is at all likely and provides an explanation for why that is so which lays the blame squarely at the feet of the legal profession.
In his Introduction, Professor Rogers states his thesis, outlines how he will develop his argument, and briefly describes the basic concepts of negotiable instruments law for those of his readers who may be unfamiliar with the specific area of law. His first three numbered chapters are also introductory. Chapter 1 provides a survey of the state of the modem law of payment systems. It develops the basic argument of the book: that the law of cheques and promissory notes as set out in Article 3 of the UCC is anachronistic and incoherent. Chapter 2 focuses on the concept of negotiability, which Professor Rogers identifies as the source of much of the trouble with modem payment systems law. He surveys the history of negotiable instruments law, paying particular attention to...