A Law of Financial Accounts: Modern Payment and Securities Transfer Law

This Article discusses the structure and policies of modern payment and securities transfer law, as epitomized by U.C.C. Articles 4A and part 5 of U.C.C. Article 8. Both bodies of law require tremendous legal clarity and govern highly intermediated systems of accounts. These similar requirements evoke similar responses: formalism and careful compartmentalization of legal responsibility. The same analytical structure explains most of the distinctive features of these bodies of law: security interests in deposit accounts and security entitlements, enforcement of judgements against accounts, third-party claims, and conflict-of-laws.