UCC § 2-105

Section 2-105 defines "goods" as all things (including specially manufactured goods) that are movable at the time of identification to the contract for sale. Money, investment securities, and things in action are excluded. The section also includes the unborn young of animals, growing crops, and other identified things attached to realty that are to be severed.

The doctrinal work is jurisdictional: this definition determines whether Article 2 applies to the transaction at all. Get it wrong and you apply the wrong body of law. The statutory supplement's editor's notes flag two important corollaries: "moveable" and "identifiable" require tangibility, so intellectual property and software licenses fall outside Article 2; growing crops are specifically included despite not being moveable at contract formation, while agricultural derivatives (futures) are excluded.

The paradigm line-drawing problem is mixed goods-and-services transactions. A contract to install a heating system, supply custom software, or renovate a kitchen involves both goods (hardware, code, materials) and services (labor, design). Courts apply either the "predominant purpose" test (which category dominates the contract?) or the "gravamen" test (which aspect is at issue in the litigation?). Neither test appears in § 2-105 itself; both are judicial glosses on the scope question the section raises.

Students assume Article 2 applies whenever anything physical is involved. Ask: does Article 2 govern a contract for a lawyer's services? No. Does it govern a contract for a custom-built machine? Yes — specially manufactured goods are expressly included. Does it govern a contract to paint a portrait? That depends on the court's test — services dominate, but a physical canvas is delivered.

Connect to UCC § 1-103 (supplementary common law governs non-goods transactions), R2d § 6 (formal contracts — scope-setting), and the Chapter 1 introductory materials that explain why the casebook pairs R2d and UCC analysis throughout. Every time a student identifies a "goods" transaction, § 2-105 is the threshold the analysis cleared.