{"data":{"id":"us-wv/w.-va.-code-46-8-102","jurisdiction":"us-wv","citation":"W. Va. Code § 46-8-102","heading":"Definitions.","body":"(a) In this article:\n(1) \"Adverse claim\" means a claim that a claimant has a property interest in a financial asset and that it is a violation of the rights of the claimant for another person to hold, transfer, or deal with the financial asset.\n(2) \"Bearer form\", as applied to a certificated security, means a form in which the security is payable to the bearer of the security certificate according to its terms but not by reason of an indorsement.\n(3) \"Broker\" means a person defined as a broker or dealer under the federal securities laws, but without excluding a bank acting in that capacity.\n(4) \"Certificated security\" means a security that is represented by a certificate.\n(5) \"Clearing corporation\" means:\n(i) A person that is registered as a \"clearing agency\" under the federal securities laws;\n(ii) A federal reserve bank; or\n(iii) Any other person that provides clearance or settlement services with respect to financial assets that would require it to register as a clearing agency under the federal securities laws but for an exclusion or exemption from the registration requirement, if its activities as a clearing corporation, including promulgation of rules, are subject to regulation by a federal or state governmental authority.\n(6) \"Communicate\" means to:\n(i) Send a signed writing; or\n(ii) Transmit information by any mechanism agreed upon by the persons transmitting and receiving the information.\n(7) \"Entitlement holder\" means a person identified in the records of a securities intermediary as the person having a security entitlement against the securities intermediary. If a person acquires a security entitlement by virtue of section 8-501(b)(2) or (3), that person is the entitlement holder.\n(8) \"Entitlement order\" means a notification communicated to a securities intermediary directing transfer or redemption of a financial asset to which the entitlement holder has a security entitlement.\n(9) \"Financial asset\", except as otherwise provided in section 8-103, means:\n(i) A security;\n(ii) An obligation of a person or a share, participation, or other interest in a person or in property or an enterprise of a person, which is, or is of a type, dealt in or traded on financial markets or which is recognized in any area in which it is issued or dealt in as a medium for investment; or\n(iii) Any property that is held by a securities intermediary for another person in a securities account if the securities intermediary has expressly agreed with the other person that the property is to be treated as a financial asset under this article. As context requires, the term means either the interest itself or the means by which a person's claim to it is evidenced, including a certificated or uncertificated security, a security certificate or a security entitlement.\n(10) [reserved]\n(11) \"Indorsement\" means a signature that alone or accompanied by other words is made on a security certificate in registered form or on a separate document for the purpose of assigning, transferring or redeeming the security or granting a power to assign, transfer or redeem it.\n(12) \"Instruction\" means a notification communicated to the issuer of an uncertificated security which directs that the transfer of the security be registered or that the security be redeemed.\n(13) \"Registered form\", as applied to a certificated security, means a form in which:\n(i) The security certificate specifies a person entitled to the security; and\n(ii) A transfer of the security may be registered upon books maintained for that purpose by or on behalf of the issuer, or the security certificate so states.\n(14) \"Securities intermediary\" means:\n(i) A clearing corporation; or\n(ii) A person, including a bank or broker, that in the ordinary course of its business maintains securities accounts for others and is acting in that capacity.\n(15) \"Security\", except as otherwise provided in section 8-103, means an obligation of an issuer or a share, participation or other interest in an issuer or in property or an enterprise of an issuer:\n(i) Which is represented by a security certificate in bearer or registered form, or the transfer of which may be registered upon books maintained for that purpose by or on behalf of the issuer;\n(ii) Which is one of a class or series or by its terms is divisible into a class or series of shares, participations, interests or obligations; and\n(iii) Which:\n(A) Is, or is of a type, dealt in or traded on securities exchanges or securities markets; or\n(B) Is a medium for investment and by its terms expressly provides that it is a security governed by this article.\n(16) \"Security certificate\" means a certificate representing a security.\n(17) \"Security entitlement\" means the rights and property interest of an entitlement holder with respect to a financial asset specified in Part 5.\n(18) \"Uncertificated security\" means a security that is not represented by a certificate.\n(b) Other definitions applying to this article and the sections in which they appear are:\n\"Appropriate person\" Section 8-107\n\"Control\" Section 8-106\n\"Delivery\" Section 8-301\n\"Investment company security\" Section 8-103\n\"Issuer\" Section 8-201\n\"Overissue\" Section 8-210\n\"Protected purchaser\" Section 8-303\n\"Securities account\" Section 8-501\n(c) In addition, article one contains general definitions and principles of construction and interpretation applicable throughout this article.\n(d) The characterization of a person, business or transaction for purposes of this article does not determine the characterization of the person, business or transaction for purposes of any other law, regulation or rule.","path":["CHAPTER 46. UNIFORM COMMERCIAL CODE.","ARTICLE 8. INVESTMENT SECURITIES."],"source_url":"https://code.wvlegislature.gov/46-8-102/","current_through":"as of 2026-08-03; contains at least the enactments of the 2026 Regular Session","vintage":"","retrieved_at":"2026-09-06T00:29:52Z","sha256":"595c812cf3e264b9666481cf622247ae4e2e91d9d556fc8368839006548cb1b0","source_id":"us-wv","stale":true,"prev":"us-wv/w.-va.-code-46-8-101","next":"us-wv/w.-va.-code-46-8-103"},"notice":"GroundRules: Original legal text. Not legal advice."}