Unless displaced by particular provisions of this title, the principles of law and equity, including the law merchant, and the law relative to capacity to contract, principal and agent, estoppel, fraud, misrepresentation, duress, coercion, mistake, bankruptcy, or other validating or invalidating causes supplement its provisions.
§ 676.13.Principles of Law and Equity
Title 8.5. Uniform Foreign-Money Claims Act · Enacted 1991 · no amendments on record · Last verified July 28, 2026
In one sentenceSection 676.13 lets general principles of law and equity — including the law merchant and rules on contractual capacity, agency, estoppel, fraud, misrepresentation, duress, mistake, and bankruptcy — fill any gap the Uniform Foreign-Money Claims Act's specific provisions don't address.
Full Text of § 676.13
Plain-English Summary
No statute anticipates every situation, and this section confirms the Act doesn't try to. Unless a specific provision of Title 8.5 displaces them, the ordinary principles of law and equity keep operating alongside the Act — including the law merchant and the rules governing capacity to contract, principal-and-agent relationships, estoppel, fraud, misrepresentation, duress, coercion, mistake, bankruptcy, and other doctrines that can validate or invalidate an obligation.
In practice, this means a foreign-money claim doesn't exist apart from the rest of California contract and equity law — this title supplies special rules for currency questions, while everything else about the underlying claim's validity is still governed by the law that would otherwise apply.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does the Uniform Foreign-Money Claims Act replace general contract and equity principles?
No, those principles still supplement the Act's provisions except where a specific provision of the Act displaces them.
What kinds of doctrines does this section preserve?
Capacity to contract, agency, estoppel, fraud, misrepresentation, duress, coercion, mistake, bankruptcy, and similar validating or invalidating causes, among others.
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: supplementary principles foreign money claims act