Section 1--102. Purposes; Rules of Construction; Variation by Agreement

(1)  This  Act shall be liberally construed and applied to promote its
  underlying purposes and policies.
    (2) Underlying purposes and policies of this Act are
         (a) to  simplify,  clarify  and  modernize  the   law   governing
             commercial transactions;
         (b) to  permit  the  continued  expansion of commercial practices
             through custom, usage and agreement of the parties;
         (c) to make uniform the law among the various jurisdictions.
    (3) The effect of provisions of this Act may be varied  by  agreement,
  except as otherwise provided in this Act and except that the obligations
  of good faith, diligence, reasonableness and care prescribed by this Act
  may  not  be  disclaimed  by  agreement but the parties may by agreement
  determine the standards by which the performance of such obligations  is
  to be measured if such standards are not manifestly unreasonable.
    (4)  The  presence  in  certain  provisions  of  this Act of the words
  "unless otherwise agreed" or words of similar import does not imply that
  the effect of other provisions may not  be  varied  by  agreement  under
  subsection (3).
    (5) In this Act unless the context otherwise requires
         (a) words  in  the singular number include the plural, and in the
             plural include the singular;
         (b) words of the masculine gender include the  feminine  and  the
             neuter,  and  when the sense so indicates words of the neuter
             gender may refer to any gender.