2023 New Mexico Statutes › Chapter 55 - Uniform Commercial Code › Article 3 - Negotiable Instruments › Part 1 - GENERAL PROVISIONS AND DEFINITIONS › Section 55-3-105 - Issue of instrument.

(a) "Issue" means the first delivery of an instrument by the maker or drawer, whether to a holder or nonholder, for the purpose of giving rights on the instrument to any person.
(b) An unissued instrument, or an unissued incomplete instrument that is completed, is binding on the maker or drawer, but nonissuance is a defense. An instrument that is conditionally issued or is issued for a special purpose is binding on the maker or drawer, but failure of the condition or special purpose to be fulfilled is a defense.
(c) "Issuer" applies to issued and unissued instruments and means a maker or drawer of an instrument.
History:
1978 Comp., § 55-3-105, enacted by Laws 1992, ch. 114, § 92.
OFFICIAL COMMENTS
UCC Official Comments by ALI & the NCCUSL. Reproduced with permission of the PEB for the UCC. All rights reserved.
1. Under former Section 3-102(1)(a) [55-3-102 NMSA 1978] "issue" was defined as the first delivery to a "holder or a remitter" but the term "remitter" was neither defined nor otherwise used. In revised Article 3, Section 3-105(a) [55-3-105 NMSA 1978] defines "issue" more broadly to include the first delivery to anyone by the drawer or maker for the purpose of giving rights to anyone on the instrument. "Delivery" with respect to instruments is defined in Section 1 201(b)(15) [55-1-201 NMSA 1978] as meaning "voluntary transfer of possession." The reference in subsection (a)(2) to transmission of an image of an item and information derived from the item is derived from Section 4-110(a) [55-4-110 NMSA 1978], dealing with electronic presentment.
Subsection (a) permits an instrument to be issued by an electronic transmission of an image of and information derived from the instrument by maker and drawer, rather than by delivery. Thus, for example, a drawer might, with the permission of the payee, write and sign a check, take a photograph of the check, send the photograph to the payee for processing electronically, and destroy the original check. If the electronic image and the information derived from it can be processed as an "electronic check" under Regulation CC,
see
12 C.F.R. § 229.2(ggg), the check is "issued" and hence can be enforced pursuant to this Article.
2. Subsection (b) continues the rule that nonissuance, conditional issuance or issuance for a special purpose is a defense of the maker or the drawer of an instrument. Thus, the defense can be asserted against a person other than a holder in due course. The same rule applies to non-issuance of an incomplete instrument later completed.
3. Subsection (c) defines "issuer" to include the signer of an unissued instrument for convenience of reference in the statute.
ANNOTATIONS
Repeals.
— Laws 1992, ch. 114, § 237 repealed former 55-3-105 NMSA 1978, as enacted by Laws 1967, ch. 186, § 6, relating to when promise or order unconditional, effective July 1, 1992. Laws 1992, ch. 114, § 92, enacted a new section, effective July 1, 1992. For provisions of former section,
see
the 1991 NMSA 1978 on
NMOneSource.com
. For present comparable provisions,
see
55-3-106 NMSA 1978.