12A:1-102 - Purposes;  rules of construction;  variation by agreement

12A:1-102.  Purposes;  rules of construction;  variation by agreement    (1) This Act shall be liberally construed and applied to promote its underlying purposes and policies.

    (2) Underlying purposes and policies of this Act are

     (a) to simplify, clarify and modernize the law governing commercial transactions;

     (b) to permit the continued expansion of commercial practices through custom, usage and agreement of the parties;

     (c) to make uniform the law among the various jurisdictions.

    (3) The effect of provisions of this Act may be varied by agreement, except  as otherwise provided in this Act and except that the obligations of good  faith, diligence, reasonableness and care prescribed by this Act may not be  disclaimed by agreement but the parties may by agreement determine the standards by which the performance of such obligations is to be measured if such standards are not manifestly unreasonable.

    (4) The presence in certain provisions of this Act of the words  "unless otherwise agreed"  or words of similar import does not imply that the effect of  other provisions may not be varied by agreement under subsection (3).

    (5) In this Act unless the context otherwise requires

     (a) words in the singular number include the plural, and in the plural include the singular;

     (b) words of the masculine gender include the feminine and the neuter, and  when the sense so indicates words of the neuter gender may refer to any gender.

     L.1961, c. 120, s. 1-102.