Cite as: 503 U. S. 393 (1992)
Stevens, J., dissenting
"(A) at the time such transfer takes effect between the transferor and the transferee, if such transfer is perfected at, or within 10 days after, such time; "(B) at the time such transfer is perfected, if such transfer is perfected after such 10 days . . . ." § 547(e)(2).
The Court interprets this section as supporting its conclusion that the transfer does not occur until the check is honored by the drawee bank because, it reasons, a transfer cannot take effect between the transferor and transferee as long as the transferor retains the ability to stop payment on the check. Ante, at 401. But that reasoning is foreclosed by § 101(54), which states that even a conditional transfer is a "transfer" for purposes of the Code. Because delivery of a check effects a conditional transfer from the transferor to the transferee, the "transfer" is made, for purposes of § 547, on the date of delivery, provided that the transfer is "perfected" within 10 days as required by § 547(e)(2).
As the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit recognized, the use of the term "perfected" is "jarring" because the meaning of the word "perfected" is not immediately apparent in this context. Global Distribution Network, Inc. v. Star Expansion Co., 949 F. 2d 910, 913 (1991). "Debtors transfer assets; creditors perfect security interests." Ibid. The answer lies in the fact that the term "perfected" has a broader meaning in § 547(e) than it does in the Uniform Commercial Code. Section 547(e)(1)(B) states that "a transfer of . . . property other than real property is perfected when a creditor on a simple contract cannot acquire a judicial lien that is superior to the interest of the transferee." Under this definition, a transfer by check is "perfected" when the check is honored because after that time no one can acquire a judicial lien superior to the interest of the transferee.
Thus §§ 101(54) and 547, when read together, plainly indicate that a "transfer" by check occurs on the date the check
405
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