Article

• Publication year: 2013
• Pages: 42
• Citation: Vol. 26 No. 6 Pg. 42

Article Vol. 26 No. 6 Pg. 42 Utah Bar Journal December, 2013

November, 2013

THE UNIFORM LAW COMMISSION: WHAT YOU KNOW CAN HELP US

Michael J. Wilkins, Justice.

INTRODUCTION

The Uniform Law Commission (ULC) was formed in 1892 to promote voluntary uniformity of laws of the States in situations where uniformity is both possible and also helpful to the citizens of the States. The ULC is composed of delegations from each of the States (including the District of Columbia, as well as Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands). Delegations are selected and financed by their individual States. Delegates must be members of the bar, and are commonly drawn from state legislatures (legislators and legislative staff lawyers), law school faculties, the practicing bar, and the judiciary. Extended service with a state delegation is common, although terms are set by individual States. See generally About Us, Uniform Law Commission, http://www.uniformlaws.org/Narrative.aspx?title=About%20 the%20ULC (last visited September 27. 2013).

Perhaps the best known and most widely-accepted product of the ULC is the Uniform Commercial Code, a fixture in the law school curriculum for more than sixty years. The ULC is also the author of such common guideposts of practice as the Uniform Probate Code, the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act, the Uniform Anatomical Gift Act, the Uniform Declaratory Judgments Act, the Uniform Enforcement of Foreign Judgments Act, the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act, the Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act, the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act, the various Uniform business entity acts (partnership, limited partnership, LLC, etc.), and many more.

The work of the ULC is ongoing. Efforts to study, draft, revise, and get the States to adopt the ULC's "products" are as active today as ever in its history. The purpose of this article is to alert members of the Bar to the opportunity you have to help shape this powerful body of law, now and in the future.

WHAT THE ULC DOES

The ULC is composed of approximately 385 Commissioners from the fifty-three member jurisdictions. The entire body meets annually, usually in mid-July, for seven or eight days. This annual conference is the primary working meeting. During the annual conference, all 385 commissioners jointly review proposed uniform acts, consider them word by word, and approve or reject them as products of the ULC. For purposes of approval or rejection, each State has...