ARTICLE 5

LETTERS OF CREDIT

Table of Contents

Sec. 42a-5-104. Formal requirements.

Sec. 42a-5-116. Choice of law and forum.


Sec. 42a-5-104. Formal requirements. A letter of credit, confirmation, advice, transfer, amendment or cancellation may be issued in any form that is a signed record.

(1959, P.A. 133, S. 5-104; P.A. 96-198, S. 4; P.A. 25-145, S. 27.)

History: P.A. 96-198 substantially revised section; P.A. 25-145 substituted “signed record” for “record” and deleted provision re methods for authentication of such record, effective January 1, 2026.

Sec. 42a-5-116. Choice of law and forum. (a) The liability of an issuer, nominated person or adviser for action or omission is governed by the law of the jurisdiction chosen by an agreement in the form of a record signed by the affected parties or by a provision in the person's letter of credit, confirmation or other undertaking. The jurisdiction whose law is chosen need not bear any relation to the transaction.

(b) Unless subsection (a) of this section applies, the liability of an issuer, nominated person or adviser for action or omission is governed by the law of the jurisdiction in which the person is located. The person is considered to be located at the address indicated in the person's undertaking. If more than one address is indicated, the person is considered to be located at the address from which the person's undertaking was issued.

(c) For the purpose of jurisdiction, choice of law and recognition of interbranch letters of credit, but not enforcement of a judgment, all branches of a bank are considered separate juridical entities and a bank is considered to be located at the place where its relevant branch is considered to be located as provided in subsection (d) of this section.

(d) A branch of a bank is considered to be located at the address indicated in the branch's undertaking. If more than one address is indicated, the branch is considered to be located at the address from which the undertaking was issued.

(e) Except as otherwise provided in this subsection, the liability of an issuer, nominated person or adviser is governed by any rules of custom or practice, such as the Uniform Customs and Practice for Documentary Credits, to which the letter of credit, confirmation or other undertaking is expressly made subject. If (i) this article would govern the liability of an issuer, nominated person or adviser under subsection (a) or (b) of this section, (ii) the relevant undertaking incorporates rules of custom or practice, and (iii) there is conflict between this article and those rules as applied to that undertaking, those rules govern except to the extent of any conflict with the nonvariable provisions specified in subsection (c) of section 42a-5-103.

(f) If there is conflict between this article and article 3, 4, 4a or 9, this article governs.

(g) The forum for settling disputes arising out of an undertaking within this article may be chosen in the manner and with the binding effect that governing law may be chosen in accordance with subsection (a) of this section.

(1959, P.A. 133, S. 5-116; P.A. 76-369, S. 6; P.A. 96-198, S. 16; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 98-1, S. 31, 121; P.A. 25-145, S. 28.)

History: P.A. 76-369 substituted “an account” for “a contract right” under Art. 9 in Subsec. (2); P.A. 96-198 entirely replaced former provisions re transfer and assignment with provisions re choice of law and forum; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 98-1 made a technical change in Subsec. (c), effective June 24, 1998; P.A. 25-145 amended Subsec. (a) to delete provision re otherwise authenticated in the manner provided in Sec. 42a-5-104, redesignated existing Subsec. (b) as Subsecs. (b) and (c) and amended redesignated Subsec. (c) by substituting “as provided in subsection (d) of this section” for “under this subsection”, added new Subsec. (d) re address of a branch of a bank and redesignated existing Subsecs. (c) to (e) as Subsecs. (e) to (g), effective January 1, 2026.