Douglass Boshkoff

The Irregular Issuance of Warehouse Receipts and Article Seven of the Uniform Commercial Code

RREGULARITIES in the issuance of warehouse receipts provide counsel with the opportunity of arguing that the receipt is of no effect or that an adverse claimant has no right to property allegedly stored with a warehouseman. Such irregularities occur when there is noncompliance with one of the several statutes which, in a particular jurisdiction, may regulate the operations of warehousemen or the issuance of warehouse receipts. There may be, first of all, failure to comply with the formal requirements for warehouse receipts of Article Seven of the Uniform Commercial Code (Code) or its predecessor, the Uniform Warehouse Receipts Act (UWRA).1 Any deviation from these requirements may encourage arguments in opposition to rights derived from the document, such arguments being limited only by the extent of counsels ingenuity. For example, both the Code2 and the UWRA3 require that a warehouse receipt contain a statement of the rate of storage and handling charges to be claimed by the bailee. Where this statement has been omitted, it has been argued that title based on the warehouse receipt is invalid,4 that the warehouseman does not enjoy the statutory right of interpleader,5 and that the warehouseman is not entitled to any compensation for his storage services.6 Co-existing with the Code and UWRA in some states are statutes regulating the issuance of warehouse receipts for certain types of commodities, usually farm produce.7 These statutes generally were