Because of the broad similarities between lease and sales transactions, that underpinning is largely derived from the sales article of the UCC Article 2. Hence the new article is 2A, indicating its relationship to Article 2. Article 2 has been adopted in every state except Louisiana. Since leases are an important part of business and commercial law, they should be governed by the Uniform Commercial Code. Further, the leasing business is interstate in character.
Uniformity is as important to the conduct of leasing transactions as it is to sales transactions.
Certain lease contracts establish what effectively are conditional sales, in which the lessor is no different from a creditor subject to Article 9. Under these provisions, a secured transaction occurs when the lessor has no meaningful residual rights in goods when the lease expires. In a true lease, the rights to the goods revert to the lessor when the lease term ends. But if the contract terms indicate that the rights to this residue are valueless, then it can be inferred that the lease really amounted to a conditional sale of the goods. Article 9 then should and would apply.