Code of Alabama
Ala. Code § 7-1-103 (2026)
Construction of Uniform Commercial Code to Promote Its Purposes and Policies; Applicability of Supplemental Principles of Law.
✓ official Alabama Legislature (ALISON) text, current July 2026
(a) This title must be liberally construed and applied to promote its underlying purposes and policies, which are:
(1) To simplify, clarify, and modernize the law governing commercial transactions;
(2) To permit the continued expansion of commercial practices through custom, usage, and agreement of the parties; and
(3) To make uniform the law among the various jurisdictions.
(b) Unless displaced by the particular provisions of this title, the principles of law and equity, including the law merchant and the law relative to capacity to contract, principal and agent, estoppel, fraud, misrepresentation, duress, coercion, mistake, bankruptcy, and other validating or invalidating cause supplement its provisions.
(Prior version of this section added by Acts 1965, No. 549, p. 811; repealed by Act 2004-524, p. 1070, §§1, 3; current section added by Act 2004-524, p. 1070, §1.)
Notes of Decisions
Cited in 25
cases (1 in the last 5 years), 1982–2021 · leading case: Am. Liberty Ins. Co. v. Amsouth Bank, 825 So. 2d 786 (Ala. 2002).
Am. Liberty Ins. Co. v. Amsouth Bank, 825 So. 2d 786 (Ala. 2002). “Ala.Code 1975, § 7-1-103 provides that "the principles of law and equity" shall supplement Alabama's UCC "[u]nless displaced by the particular provisions of [the Alabama UCC].”
Atl. Nat. Trust, LLC v. McNamee, 984 So. 2d 375 (Ala. 2007). “Atlantic National also argues that § 7-1-103 (Alabama's version of § 1-103 of the Uniform Commercial Code) incorporates Alabama common-law principles regarding assignments and that under these principles an assignee acquires all of the rights of its assignor.”
Sparks v. Total Body Essential Nutrition, Inc., 27 So. 3d 489 (Ala. 2009). “Therefore, while principles of common law and equity may supplement provisions of the Uniform Commercial Code, they may not be used to supplant its provisions, or the purposes and policies those provisions reflect, unless a specific provision of the Uniform Commercial Code…”
Alabama Powersport Auction, LLC v. Wiese, 143 So. 3d 713 (Ala. 2013). “However, consistent with § 7-1-103, we have considered “the principles of law and equity, including ... the law relative to .”
Quality Truck & Auto Sales, Inc. v. Yassine, 730 So. 2d 1164 (Ala. 1999). “However, Ala.Code 1975, § 7-1-103, preserves supplementary general principles of law and equity ("Unless displaced by the particular provisions of this title, the principles of law and equity .”
Hughes Developers, Inc. v. Montgomery, 903 So. 2d 94 (Ala. 2004). “If Hughes could not have complied with § 7-8-210(c), Montgomery's damages would have been the same under § 7-8-210(d), or under "the principles of law and equity," Ala.Code 1975, § 7-1-103. NOTES [1] While § 7-8-202 excepts from validation a security with a defect involving a…”
Wadsworth v. Yancey Bros. Co., 423 So. 2d 1343 (Ala. 1982). “[See Code 1975, § 7-1-103.] The Uniform Commercial Code defines the term chattel paper and limits its treatment .”
Turner v. DeKalb Bank (In Re Turner), 209 B.R. 558 (Bankr. N.D. Ala. 1997). “The debtor argues that although there is no one provision that expressly overrules the common law, when read together, several U.”
Amsouth Bank, N.A. v. Spigener, 505 So. 2d 1030 (Ala. 1986). “Section 7-1-103, entitled "Supplementary general principles of law applicable," provides that "[u]nless displaced by the particular provisions of this title, the principles of law and equity .”
Price v. CTB, Inc., 168 F. Supp. 2d 1299 (M.D. Ala. 2001). “” Ala. Code § 7-1-103 (1975). The equitable doctrine of implied indemnity has been applied to such factual scenarios as a means of alleviating the harshness surrounding rules prohibiting contribution among joint tortfeasors.”
Brannon v. BankTrust, Inc., 50 So. 3d 397 (Ala. 2010). “The Fitts Court noted that ordinarily this Court looks to § 7-1-103, Ala.Code 1975, for guidance on the relationship between the UCC and the common law.”
Cagle's Inc. v. Valley Nat'l Bank, 153 F. Supp. 2d 1288 (M.D. Ala. 2001). “Code § 7-1-103 . This section applies to principles of law and equity, without limitation as to jurisdiction.”
— Ala. Code § 7-1-103(b) — 3 cases
Atl. Nat. Trust, LLC v. McNamee, 984 So. 2d 375 (Ala. 2007). “Atlantic National also argues that § 7-1-103 (Alabama's version of § 1-103 of the Uniform Commercial Code) incorporates Alabama common-law principles regarding assignments and that under these principles an assignee acquires all of the rights of its assignor.”
Alabama Powersport Auction, LLC v. Wiese, 143 So. 3d 713 (Ala. 2013). “However, consistent with § 7-1-103, we have considered “the principles of law and equity, including ... the law relative to .”
Sparks v. Total Body Essential Nutrition, Inc., 27 So. 3d 489 (Ala. 2009). “Therefore, while principles of common law and equity may supplement provisions of the Uniform Commercial Code, they may not be used to supplant its provisions, or the purposes and policies those provisions reflect, unless a specific provision of the Uniform Commercial Code…”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the
Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and
treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.