UCC 2-207 Flowchart: Battle of the Forms

UCC 2-207 Flowchart

Download a .pdf version of the UCC 2-207 flowchart

When it is not exactly clear what parties agreed upon but it is clear that the parties intended to agree, a court must determine what terms apply. If various forms have been sent back and forth between the parties common law only gives us two options to apply to the forms: Offer and Acceptance or Counteroffer. The Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) gives us a third option: acceptance with additional terms.

UCC 2-207 Flowchart
UCC 2-207 Flowchart

This option can be found in the UCC 2-207. The goal of 2-207 is to determine which terms apply from the contract negotiation; however, the language of the section can be very confusing and hard to follow. This UCC 2-207 flowchart should be helpful in navigating this section of the UCC.

Download a .pdf version of the UCC 2-207 flowchart

 

For an example of the Battle of the Forms in action see Brown Machine, Inc. v. Hercules, Inc.

 

General Intent vs. Specific Intent

Intent crime

The difference between general intent and specific intent:

  • General intent – the defendant intended the conduct
  • Specific intent – the defendant intended the conduct and the result

For a specific intent crime, the mens rea will typically be written into the statute. Intentional and knowledge based crimes are considered specific intent crimes. Here is a (not exhaustive) list of specific intent crimes:

  1. Murder
  2. Attempt
  3. Conspiracy
  4. Solicitation (under modern statutes)
  5. Larceny
  6. False Imprisonment

Note: A specific intent crime cannot merge.

General intent crimes typically include crimes that are based on the defendant being reckless or negligence. Here is a (non exhaustive) list of general intent crimes:

  1. Manslaughter
  2. Negligent Homicide
  3. Solicitation (however, it is treated like a specific intent crime and modern statutes define it as a specific intent crime)
  4. Arson
  5. Rape