Colorado Revised Statutes

Colo. Rev. Stat. § 4-3-103 (2026)

Definitions

✓ current as of July 2026

Find cases: SyfertCases citing this section CO-LEGleg.colorado.gov JustiaTitle on Justia CornellLII Search CasesGoogle Scholar

(a) In this article:

(1) "Acceptor" means a drawee who has accepted a draft.

(2) "Drawee" means a person ordered in a draft to make payment.

(3) "Drawer" means a person who signs or is identified in a draft as a person ordering payment.

(4) "Good faith" means honesty in fact and the observance of reasonable commercial standards of fair dealing.

(5) "Maker" means a person who signs or is identified in a note as a person undertaking to pay.

(6) "Order" means a written instruction to pay money signed by the person giving the instruction. The instruction may be addressed to any person, including the person giving the instruction, or to one or more persons jointly or in the alternative but not in succession. An authorization to pay is not an order unless the person authorized to pay is also instructed to pay.

(7) "Ordinary care" in the case of a person engaged in business means observance of reasonable commercial standards, prevailing in the area in which the person is located, with respect to the business in which the person is engaged. In the case of a bank that takes an instrument for processing for collection or payment by automated means, reasonable commercial standards do not require the bank to examine the instrument if the failure to examine does not violate the bank's prescribed procedures and the bank's procedures do not vary unreasonably from general banking usage not disapproved by this article or article 4 of this title.

(8) "Party" means a party to an instrument.

(9) "Promise" means a written undertaking to pay money signed by the person undertaking to pay. An acknowledgment of an obligation by the obligor is not a promise unless the obligor also undertakes to pay the obligation.

(10) "Prove" with respect to a fact means to meet the burden of establishing the fact (section 4-1-201 (b)(8)).

(11) "Remitter" means a person who purchases an instrument from its issuer if the instrument is payable to an identified person other than the purchaser.

(b) Other definitions applying to this article and the sections in which they appear are: "Acceptance"Section 4-3-409 "Accommodated party"Section 4-3-419 "Accommodation party"Section 4-3-419 "Alteration"Section 4-3-407 "Anomalous indorsement"Section 4-3-205 "Blank indorsement"Section 4-3-205 "Cashier's check"Section 4-3-104 "Certificate of deposit"Section 4-3-104 "Certified check"Section 4-3-409 "Check"Section 4-3-104 "Consideration"Section 4-3-303 "Demand draft"Section 4-3-104 "Draft"Section 4-3-104 "Holder in due course"Section 4-3-302 "Incomplete instrument"Section 4-3-115 "Indorsement"Section 4-3-204 "Indorser"Section 4-3-204 "Instrument"Section 4-3-104 "Issue"Section 4-3-105 "Issuer"Section 4-3-105 "Negotiable instrument"Section 4-3-104 "Negotiation"Section 4-3-201 "Note"Section 4-3-104 "Payable at a definite time"Section 4-3-108 "Payable on demand"Section 4-3-108 "Payable to bearer"Section 4-3-109 "Payable to order"Section 4-3-109 "Payment"Section 4-3-602 "Person entitled to enforce"Section 4-3-301 "Presentment"Section 4-3-501 "Reacquisition"Section 4-3-207 "Special indorsement"Section 4-3-205 "Teller's check"Section 4-3-104 "Transfer of instrument"Section 4-3-203 "Traveler's check"Section 4-3-104 "Value"Section 4-3-303

(c) The following definitions in other articles apply to this article: "Bank"Section 4-4-105 "Banking day"Section 4-4-104 "Clearing house"Section 4-4-104 "Collecting bank"Section 4-4-105 "Depositary bank"Section 4-4-105 "Documentary draft"Section 4-4-104 "Intermediary bank"Section 4-4-105 "Item"Section 4-4-104 "Payor bank"Section 4-4-105 "Suspends payments"Section 4-4-104

(d) In addition, article 1 of this title contains general definitions and principles of construction and interpretation applicable throughout this article.

Source: L. 94: Entire article R&RE, p. 840, § 1, effective January 1, 1995. L. 2001: (b) amended, p. 865, § 2, effective August 8. L. 2006: (a)(10) amended, p. 496, § 25, effective September 1.

Editor's note: This section is similar to former § 4-3-102 as it existed prior to 1994.

Cross references: For the legislative declaration contained in the 2001 act amending subsection (b), see section 1 of chapter 244, Session Laws of Colorado 2001.

Notes of Decisions

Cited in 8 cases (1 in the last 5 years), 1982–2021 · leading case: Suncor Energy (USA), Inc. v. Aspen Petroleum Prods., Inc., 178 P.3d 1263 (Colo. Ct. App. 2008).

Sort: Relevance Newest Treatment

Suncor Energy (USA), Inc. v. Aspen Petroleum Prods., Inc., 178 P.3d 1263 (Colo. Ct. App. 2008). · cites it 2× “” § 4-3-103(a)(5), C.R.S.2007. We are not aware of any definition of the phrase “to make a check” in case law or in analogous statutes from other jurisdictions.”

W. Grp. Nurseries, Inc. v. Pomeranz, 867 P.2d 12 (Colo. Ct. App. 1993). · cites it 2× “Moreover, § 4-3-103, C.R.S. (1992 Repl. Vol. 2) (Official Comment 2) provides: In the case of a negotiable instrument which is subject to .”

People v. Zekany, 833 P.2d 774 (Colo. Ct. App. 1991). · cites it 2× “121, § 4-3-103 at 418. The decision to place universal malice/extreme indifference homicide in the first degree murder statute along with homicide after deliberation and specific intent demonstrates the General Assembly's intention to equate the elements involved in these two…”

Decibel Credit Union v. Pueblo Bank & Trust Co., 996 P.2d 784 (Colo. Ct. App. 2000). · cites it 2× “See § 4-3-103(2), C.R.S.1999. Pueblo Bank was the “presenting bank.”

e at Seventeenth Avenue Owners Ass'n v. Nelson, 2021 COA 78 (Colo. Ct. App. 2021). · cites it 6× “” § 4-3-103(4), C.R.S. 2020. Official comment 4 to section 4-3-311 states, in relevant part, [an] example of lack of good faith is found in the practice of some business debtors in routinely printing full satisfaction language on their check stocks so that all or a large part of…”

Hollemon v. Murray, 666 P.2d 1107 (Colo. Ct. App. 1982). · cites it 2× “1973, and Official Comment 4 thereto; § 4-3-103(2), C.R.S.1973, and Official Comment 2 thereto; § 4-3-201(2), C.”

Travis v. La Junta State Bank, 694 P.2d 350 (Colo. Ct. App. 1984). · cites it 2× “; § 4-3-103(2), C.R.S. Under § 4-4-105(a), C.”

Lupia v. Medicredit, Inc. (D. Colo. 2020). · cites it 2× “” § 4-3-103(a)(4), C.R.S. The comments to section 4-3-311 posit as an example of a lack of good faith the practice of some business debtors in routinely printing full satisfaction language on their check stocks so that all or a large part of the debts of the debtor are paid by…”

— Colo. Rev. Stat. § 4-3-103(2) — 3 cases

Decibel Credit Union v. Pueblo Bank & Trust Co., 996 P.2d 784 (Colo. Ct. App. 2000). “See § 4-3-103(2), C.R.S.1999. Pueblo Bank was the “presenting bank.”

Hollemon v. Murray, 666 P.2d 1107 (Colo. Ct. App. 1982). “1973, and Official Comment 4 thereto; § 4-3-103(2), C.R.S.1973, and Official Comment 2 thereto; § 4-3-201(2), C.”

Travis v. La Junta State Bank, 694 P.2d 350 (Colo. Ct. App. 1984). “; § 4-3-103(2), C.R.S. Under § 4-4-105(a), C.”

— Colo. Rev. Stat. § 4-3-103(4) — 1 case

e at Seventeenth Avenue Owners Ass'n v. Nelson, 2021 COA 78 (Colo. Ct. App. 2021). “” § 4-3-103(4), C.R.S. 2020. Official comment 4 to section 4-3-311 states, in relevant part, [an] example of lack of good faith is found in the practice of some business debtors in routinely printing full satisfaction language on their check stocks so that all or a large part of…”

— Colo. Rev. Stat. § 4-3-103(a)(4) — 2 cases

Lupia v. Medicredit, Inc. (D. Colo. 2020). “” § 4-3-103(a)(4), C.R.S. The comments to section 4-3-311 posit as an example of a lack of good faith the practice of some business debtors in routinely printing full satisfaction language on their check stocks so that all or a large part of the debts of the debtor are paid by…”

— Colo. Rev. Stat. § 4-3-103(a)(5) — 1 case

Suncor Energy (USA), Inc. v. Aspen Petroleum Prods., Inc., 178 P.3d 1263 (Colo. Ct. App. 2008). “” § 4-3-103(a)(5), C.R.S.2007. We are not aware of any definition of the phrase “to make a check” in case law or in analogous statutes from other jurisdictions.”

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.