O.C.G.A.

O.C.G.A. § 11-3-604 (2019)

Discharge by cancellation or renunciation

✓ O.C.G.A. — 2019 edition (Public.Resource.Org Release 73)

Code text and O.C.G.A. statutory annotations on this page reflect the 2019 Official Code of Georgia Annotated (Public.Resource.Org Release 73, 2019-08-21; public domain per Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). The Syfert case-law annotations in Notes of Decisions, below, are current.

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(a) A person entitled to enforce an instrument, with or without consideration, may discharge the obligation of a party to pay the instrument by (i) an intentional voluntary act such as surrender of the instrument to the party, destruction, mutilation, or cancellation of the instrument, cancellation or striking out of the party’s signature, or the addition of words to the instrument indicating discharge; or (ii) agreeing not to sue or otherwise renouncing rights against the party by a signed writing.

(b) Cancellation or striking out of an indorsement pursuant to subsection (a) of this Code section does not affect the status and rights of a party derived from the indorsement.

History

Code 1981, § 11-3-604, enacted by Ga. L. 1996, p. 1306, § 3.

Annotations

JUDICIAL DECISIONS Editor’s notes. - In light of the similarity of the statutory provisions, decisions under former Code Section 11-3-605 are included in the annotations for this Code section. Requirements for discharge of promissory note. - Although a holder of a promissory note may accomplish a discharge on the instrument itself, there are no requirements that the holder do so, nor are there any specific words which must be written to effect the cancellation and renunciation. Gorlin v. Reece, 187 Ga. App. 584, 370 S.E.2d 834, 1988 Ga. App.

LEXIS 776 (1988) (decided under former Code Section 11-3-605). Guaranties not ancillary to negotiable instruments. - Since Article 3 does not cover guaranties which are not ancillary to notes or other actionable negotiable instruments, Article 3 was not applicable to determine the effectiveness of an oral renunciation of a guaranty by a bank’s loan officer, after one note had been fully satisfied by the debtor and before subsequent notes were executed which would otherwise have been covered by a future advances clause in the guaranty.

Fidelity Nat’l Bank v. Reid, 180 Ga. App. 428, 348 S.E.2d 913, 1986 Ga. App. LEXIS

2151 (1986) (decided under former Code Section 11-3-605).

RESEARCH REFERENCES C.J.S. 10 C.J.S., Bills and Notes, § 231 et seq. U.L.A. Uniform Commercial Code (U.L.A.) § 3604. ALR. Right of maker to recover payment or overpayment made by mistake to transferee of paper in good faith, 41 A.L.R. 588. Surrender (or indemnity in lieu thereof) of original instrument as condition of re-

covery upon new or renewal instrument, or surrender of new or renewal instrument as condition of recovery upon original, 129 A.L.R. 371. What constitutes renunciation by surrender of negotiable instrument under UCC § 3-605, 96 A.L.R.3d 1144. Unintentional cancellation of negotiable instrument under UCC Article 3, 59 A.L.R.4th 617.

Notes of Decisions

Cited in 2 cases (1 in the last 5 years), 1996–2023 · leading case: Womack v. Columbus Rentals, Inc., 478 S.E.2d 611 (Ga. Ct. App. 1996).

Sort: Relevance Newest Treatment

Womack v. Columbus Rentals, Inc., 478 S.E.2d 611 (Ga. Ct. App. 1996). · cites it 2× “pursuant to [OCGA] § 11-3-104 and § 11-2-201 and § 11-3-107 and § 11-3-604 and Cohens v. Virginia, 6 Wheat 264 and Public Law 89-719.”

Lori Ann Lambert (Bankr. N.D. Ga. 2023). · cites it 4× “In addition, O.C.G.A. § 11-3-604(a) recognizes that a person entitled to enforce an instrument may “discharge” the obligation of a party to pay the instrument by (1) An intentional voluntary act such as surrender of the instrument to the party, destruction, mutilation, or…”

— 11-3-604(a) — 1 case

Lori Ann Lambert (Bankr. N.D. Ga. 2023). “In addition, O.C.G.A. § 11-3-604(a) recognizes that a person entitled to enforce an instrument may “discharge” the obligation of a party to pay the instrument by (1) An intentional voluntary act such as surrender of the instrument to the party, destruction, mutilation, or…”

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.