(a) If, after an obligation is expressed or a loss is incurred in a foreign money, the country issuing or adopting that money substitutes a new money in place of that money, the obligation or the loss is treated as if expressed or incurred in the new money at the rate of conversion the issuing country establishes for the payment of like obligations or losses denominated in the former money.
§ 676.12.Substitution of New Money In Place of Money Obligation Expressed Or Loss Incurred
Title 8.5. Uniform Foreign-Money Claims Act · Enacted 1991 · no amendments on record · Last verified July 28, 2026
In one sentenceSection 676.12 treats an obligation or loss originally expressed in a foreign money as expressed in that country's replacement currency, at the official conversion rate the issuing country sets, whenever that country substitutes a new money, and requires a court or arbitrator to amend an existing judgment or award the same way if the substitution happens afterward.
Full Text of § 676.12
(b) If substitution under subdivision (a) occurs after a judgment or award is entered on a foreign-money claim, the court or arbitrator shall amend the judgment or award by a like conversion of the former money.
Plain-English Summary
Currencies sometimes get replaced entirely — a country redenominates, adopts a new currency union, or otherwise substitutes new money for old. Subdivision (a) handles that directly: once a country substitutes a new money for the one an obligation or loss was originally expressed or incurred in, the obligation or loss is treated as if it had always been expressed in the new money, converted at whatever rate that issuing country itself establishes for similar obligations denominated in the old currency.
Subdivision (b) extends that same treatment to judgments and awards already entered. If the currency substitution happens after a court or arbitrator has already ruled on a foreign-money claim, that court or arbitrator has to amend the judgment or award, converting the old currency figure into the new one using the same official conversion.
Frequently Asked Questions
What happens if a country replaces its currency after a contract is signed in that currency?
The obligation is treated as expressed in the new currency, converted at the issuing country's own official rate for similar obligations.
What if the currency substitution happens after judgment is already entered?
The court or arbitrator must amend the judgment or award to reflect the same conversion into the new currency.
Amendment History
Added by Stats. 1991, Ch. 932, Sec. 1.
Source & verification. Section text is reproduced verbatim from
the Deering's California Codes Annotated / vLex. Enacted by the California Legislature.
Last verified July 28, 2026.
· Official source
Also known as: currency redenomination judgment californiasubstitution of new money foreign claims act