§490:3-104  Negotiable instrument.  (a) 
Except as provided in subsections (c) and (d), "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 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:



(A)  An undertaking or power to give, maintain,
or protect collateral to secure payment;



(B)  An authorization or power to the holder to
confess judgment or realize on or dispose of collateral; or



(C)  A waiver of the benefit of any law
intended for the advantage or protection of an obligor.



(b)  "Instrument" 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 "check" 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 article.



(e)  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.



(f)  "Check" means:



(1)  A draft, other than a documentary draft, payable
on demand and drawn on a bank;



(2)  A cashier's check or teller's check; or



(3)  A demand draft.



An instrument may be a check even though it is
described on its face by another term, such as "money order".



(g)  "Cashier's check" means a draft
with respect to which the drawer and drawee are the same bank or branches of
the same bank.



(h)  "Teller's check" means a draft
drawn by a bank:



(1)  On another bank; or



(2)  Payable at or through a bank.



(i)  "Traveler's check" means an
instrument that:



(1)  Is payable on demand;



(2)  Is drawn on or payable at or through a bank;



(3)  Is designated by the term "traveler's
check" or by a substantially similar term; and



(4)  Requires, as a condition to payment, a
countersignature by a person whose specimen signature appears on the instrument.



(j)  "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.



(k)  "Demand draft" means a writing
not signed by a customer that is created by a third party under the purported
authority of the customer for the purpose of charging the customer's account
with a bank.  A demand draft may contain any or all of the following:



(1)  The customer's printed or typewritten name or
account number;



(2)  A notation that the customer authorized the
draft; or



(3)  The statement "No Signature Required"
or words to that effect.



A demand draft shall not include a check drawn
by a fiduciary, as defined in section 490:3-307(a)(1). [L 1991, c 118, pt of
§1; am L 1998, c 241, §2]