In
United States law
The law of the United States comprises many levels of codified and uncodified forms of law, of which the most important is the nation's Constitution, which prescribes the foundation of the federal government of the United States, as well a ...
, the ordinary course of business (OCB) covers the usual transactions, customs and practices of a certain business and of a certain firm. This term is used particularly to judge the validity of certain transactions. It is used in several different sections of the
Uniform Commercial Code
The Uniform Commercial Code (UCC), first published in 1952, is one of a number of Uniform Acts that have been established as law with the goal of harmonizing the laws of sales and other commercial transactions across the United States through U ...
of the United States.
Section 1-201 of the Uniform Commercial Codedefines a "Buyer in the ordinary course of business" by a four-part test:
# a person that buys goods in
good faith,
# without knowledge that the sale violates the rights of another person in the goods
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# and in the ordinary course from a person, other than a pawnbroker, in the business of selling goods of that kind.
# A person buys goods in the ordinary course if the sale to the person comports with the usual or customary practices in the kind of business in which the seller is engaged or with the seller's own usual or customary practices.
: /nowiki>emphasis added/nowiki>
American legal terminology
Business law
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