1. A consensual bargaining process in which the parties attempt to reach agreement on a disputed or potentially disputed matter. • Negotiation usu. involves complete autonomy for the parties involved, without the intervention of third parties. [Cases: Contracts 25. C.J.S. Contracts § 60.]
“Negotiation, we may say, ought strictly to be viewed simply as a means to an end; it is the road the parties must travel to arrive at their goal of mutually satisfactory settlement. But like other means, negotiation is easily converted into an end in itself; it readily becomes a game played for its own sake and a game played with so little reserve by those taken up with it that they will sacrifice their own ultimate interests in order to win it.” Lon L. Fuller, Anatomy of the Law 128 (1968).
2. (usu. pl.) Dealings conducted between two or more parties for the purpose of reaching an understanding.
3. The transfer of an instrument by delivery or indorsement whereby the transferee takes it for value, in good faith, and without notice of conflicting title claims or defenses. See HOLDER IN DUE COURSE. [Cases: Bills and Notes 176, 208. C.J.S. Bills and Notes; Letters of Credit §§ 139, 143, 146, 148.] — negotiate, vb. — negotiable, adj. — negotiability, n.
due negotiation. The transfer of a negotiable document of title so that the transferee takes it free of certain claims enforceable against the transferor. • This is the good-faith-purchase exception to the doctrine of derivative title. UCC §§ 7-501(4); 7-502(1). [Cases: Warehousemen 15. C.J.S. Warehousemen and Safe Depositaries § 36.]
