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<law><site_title>Virginia Decoded</site_title><site_url>https://vacode.org</site_url><law_id>377882</law_id><section_number>8.1A-103</section_number><catch_line>Construction of Uniform Commercial Code to promote its purposes and policies; applicability of supplemental principles of law</catch_line><edition url="https://vacode.org/2026/" slug="2026" current="TRUE" last_updated="2026-08-02">2026</edition><structure><unit label="title" level="1" order_by="13" identifier="8.1A">Uniform Commercial Code &#x2014; General Provisions</unit><unit label="part" level="2" order_by="1" identifier="1">General Provisions</unit></structure><text>
						<section id="a"><p><span class="prefix-number">a.</span> The Uniform Commercial Code shall be liberally construed and applied to promote its underlying purposes and policies, which are: <a id="paragraph-1409419" class="section-permalink" href="https://vacode.org/8.1A-103/#a"><i class="fa fa-link"/></a></p></section>
						<section id="a1" class="indent-1"><p><span class="prefix-number">1.</span> to simplify, clarify, and modernize the <span class="dictionary">law</span> governing commercial transactions; <a id="paragraph-1409420" class="section-permalink" href="https://vacode.org/8.1A-103/#a1"><i class="fa fa-link"/></a></p></section>
						<section id="a2" class="indent-1"><p><span class="prefix-number">2.</span> to permit the continued expansion of commercial practices through custom, usage, and agreement of the parties; and <a id="paragraph-1409421" class="section-permalink" href="https://vacode.org/8.1A-103/#a2"><i class="fa fa-link"/></a></p></section>
						<section id="a3" class="indent-1"><p><span class="prefix-number">3.</span> to make uniform the <span class="dictionary">law</span> among the various <span class="dictionary">jurisdictions</span>. <a id="paragraph-1409422" class="section-permalink" href="https://vacode.org/8.1A-103/#a3"><i class="fa fa-link"/></a></p></section>
						<section id="b"><p><span class="prefix-number">b.</span> Unless displaced by the particular provisions of the Uniform Commercial Code, the principles of <span class="dictionary">law</span> and <span class="dictionary">equity</span>, including the <span class="dictionary">law</span> merchant and the <span class="dictionary">law</span> relative to capacity to <span class="dictionary">contract</span>, principal and agent, estoppel, <span class="dictionary">fraud</span>, misrepresentation, duress, coercion, mistake, <span class="dictionary">bankruptcy</span>, and other validating or invalidating cause supplement its provisions. <a id="paragraph-1409423" class="section-permalink" href="https://vacode.org/8.1A-103/#b"><i class="fa fa-link"/></a></p></section></text><history>Code 1950, &#xA7;&#xA7; 6-549, 13-183, 13.1-418, 61-2; 1956, c. 428; 1964, c. 219, &#xA7;&#xA7; 8.1-102, 8.1-103; 2003, c. 353.</history><metadata></metadata></law>
