When used in this chapter, unless the context or subject matter otherwise requires:

Terms Used In North Dakota Code 51-23-02

  • Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
  • Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
  • Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
  • Fair market value: The price at which an asset would change hands in a transaction between a willing, informed buyer and a willing, informed seller.
  • following: when used by way of reference to a chapter or other part of a statute means the next preceding or next following chapter or other part. See North Dakota Code 1-01-49
  • Individual: means a human being. See North Dakota Code 1-01-49
  • Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
  • Organization: includes a foreign or domestic association, business trust, corporation, enterprise, estate, joint venture, limited liability company, limited liability partnership, limited partnership, partnership, trust, or any legal or commercial entity. See North Dakota Code 1-01-49
  • Person: means an individual, organization, government, political subdivision, or government agency or instrumentality. See North Dakota Code 1-01-49
  • Property: includes property, real and personal. See North Dakota Code 1-01-49
  • Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
  • Rule: includes regulation. See North Dakota Code 1-01-49
  • State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the territories. See North Dakota Code 1-01-49
  • United States: includes the District of Columbia and the territories. See North Dakota Code 1-01-49

1.    “Board of trade” means any person or group of persons engaged in buying or selling any commodity or receiving any commodity for sale on consignment, whether the person or group of persons is characterized as a board of trade, exchange, or other form of marketplace.

2.    “CFTC rule” means any rule, regulation, or order of the commodity futures trading commission in effect on April 7, 1989.

3.    “Commissioner” means the securities commissioner of this state.

4.    “Commodity” means, except as otherwise specified by the commissioner by rule or order, any agricultural, grain, or livestock product or byproduct; any metal or mineral, including a precious metal; any gem or gemstone, whether characterized as precious, semiprecious, or otherwise; any fuel whether liquid, gaseous, or otherwise; any foreign currency; and all other goods, articles, products, or items of any kind. The term commodity does not include:

a.    A numismatic coin with a fair market value at least fifteen percent higher than the value of the metal it contains; b.    Real property or any timber, agricultural, or livestock product grown or raised on real property and offered or sold by the owner or lessee of the real property; or

c.    Any work of art offered or sold by art dealers, at public auction or offered or sold through a private sale by the owner.

5.    “Commodity contract” means any account, agreement, or contract for the purchase or sale, primarily for speculation or investment purposes and not for use or consumption by the offeree or purchaser, of one or more commodities, whether for immediate or subsequent delivery or whether delivery is intended by the parties, and whether characterized as a cash contract, deferred shipment or deferred delivery contract, forward contract, futures contract, installment or margin contract, leverage contract, or otherwise. Any commodity contract offered or sold must, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, be presumed to be offered or sold for speculation or investment purposes. A commodity contract may not include any contract or agreement which requires, and under which the purchaser receives within twenty-eight calendar days from the payment in good funds of any portion of the purchase price, physical delivery of the total amount of each commodity to be purchased under the contract or agreement.

6.    “Commodity Exchange Act” means the act of Congress known as the Commodity Exchange Act, as amended to April 7, 1989.

7.    “Commodity futures trading commission” means the independent regulatory agency established by Congress to administer the Commodity Exchange Act.

8.    “Commodity merchant” means any of the following, as defined or described in the Commodity Exchange Act or by CFTC rule:

a.    Futures commission merchant. b.    Commodity pool operator.

c.    Commodity trading advisor. d.    Introducing broker.

e.    Leverage transaction merchant.

f.    An associated person of any of the foregoing. g.    Floor broker.

h.    Any other person other than a futures association required to register with the commodity futures trading commission.

    9.    “Commodity option” means any account, agreement, or contract giving a party thereto the right but not the obligation to purchase or sell one or more commodities or one or more commodity contracts, whether characterized as an option, privilege, indemnity, bid, offer, put, call, advance guaranty, decline guaranty or otherwise, but does not include an option traded on a national securities exchange registered with the United States securities and exchange commission.

10.    “Financial institution” means a bank, savings institution, or trust company organized under, or supervised under, the laws of the United States or of any state.

11.    “Offer” includes every offer to sell, offer to purchase, or offer to enter into a commodity contract or commodity option.

12.    “Person” means an individual, a corporation, a limited liability company, a partnership, an association, a joint-stock company, a trust in which the interests of the beneficiaries are evidenced by a security, an unincorporated organization, a government, or a political subdivision of a government, but does not include a contract market designated by the commodity futures trading commission or any clearinghouse thereof or a national securities exchange registered with the securities and exchange commission or any employee, officer, or director of such contract market, clearinghouse, or exchange acting solely in that capacity.

13.    “Precious metal” means the following in either coin, bullion, or other form: silver, gold, platinum, palladium, copper, and such other items as the commissioner may specify by rule or order.

14.    “Sale” or “sell” includes every sale, contract of sale, contract to sell, or disposition, for value.