In this article, we shall discuss various definitions under the Sale of Goods Act, 1930
Mercantile Laws:
Mercantile laws are the laws those deals with international commerce, business transactions and operations like agreements, contracts, copyrights, franchising, insurance, licensing, patents, shipping, transport, trademarks, etc.
Examples of Mercantile Laws:
- The Indian Contract Act, 1872
- The Sale of Goods Act, 1930
- The Indian Partnership Act, 1932
- The Companies Act, 2013
- The Copyrights Act, etc.
The Sale of Goods Act, 1930:
Most of economic activities involve buying and selling of movable goods. The sale of goods may on cash or credit basis. The goods may be sold on the spot these may be a promise to sell the some in future. It is one of the special types of contract. The law relating to the sale of goods or movable in India is contained in the Sale of Goods Act, 1930. Till 1930, the law relating to sale and purchase of goods were regulated by the Indian contract act , 1872. In 1930, sections 76 to 123 of Chapter VII of the Indian contract act, 1872 were repealed and separate act called ‘The Indian sale of goods act, 1930 was passed. It came into force on 1st July 1930. It contains 66 Sections and extends to the whole of the India.
The objective of the Act was to set up the contracts where the seller agrees to sell the goods or transfer the ownership of the goods to the other person called the buyer against a reasonable amount of consideration.
Important Definitions Under the Act:
Buyer:
According to Section 2(1) of the Act, “buyer” means a person who buys or agrees to buy goods.
Seller:
According to Section 2(13) of the Act, “seller” means a person who sells or agrees to sell goods.
Goods:
According to Section 2(7) of the Act, “goods” means every kind of moveable property other than actionable claims and money; and includes stock and shares, growing crops, grass, and things attached to or forming part of the land which are agreed to be severed before sale or under the contract of sale.
According to the definition the term “goods” includes:-
- All types of movable property except money and actionable claims
- All kinds of stocks, share, timber, grass, growing crops.
- It also includes things attached to the land or forming a part of the land subject to severed before its sale.
Notes:
- Money means current money and it includes rare and old coins.
- Actionable claim means what a person cannot make a present use of or enjoy, but can recover it by means of a suit or an action. Thus, a debt due to a man from another is an actionable claim and cannot be sold as goods, although it can be assigned. Under the provisions of the Transfer of Property Act, 1882, goodwill, trade marks, copyrights, patents are all goods, so is a ship. As regards water, gas, electricity, it is doubtful whether they are goods.
Future Goods:
According to Section 2(6) of the Act, “future goods” means goods to be manufactured or produced or acquired by the seller after the making of the contract of sale.
Specific Goods:
According to Section 2(14) of the Act, 1930, “specific goods” means goods identified and agreed upon at the time a contract of sale is made;
Contingent Goods:
According to Section 6(2) of the Act, “contingent goods” are the goods the acquisition of which by the seller depends upon a contingency which may or may not happen.
Property:
According to Section 2(11) of the Act, “property” means the general property in goods, and not merely a special property.
General property in goods means ownership of the goods. Special property in goods means possession of goods. Thus, there must be either a transfer of ownership of goods or an agreement to transfer the ownership of goods. The ownership may transfer either immediately on completion of sale or sometime in future in agreement to sell.
Quality of Goods:
According to Section 2(12) of the Sale of Goods Act, 1930, “quality of goods” includes their state or condition.
Price:
According to Section 2(10) of the Sale of Goods Act, 1930, “price” means the money consideration for a sale of goods.
In Gopal Krishna Pillai v. K. M. Mani, (1984) 2 SCC 83 case, the Court held that fees charged by professional likes doctors, architects, counsels, lawyers, etc are not in the category of price. They are their professional charges for rendering services. There is nothing which is sold for a price.
Deliverable State:
According to Section 2(3) of the Sale of Goods Act, 1930, goods are said to be in a “deliverable state” when they are in such state that the buyer would under the contract be bound to take delivery of them;
Delivery:
According to Section 2(3) of the Sale of Goods Act, 1930, “delivery” means voluntary transfer of possession from one person to another.
Document of Title to Goods:
According to Section 2(4) of the Sale of Goods Act, 1930, “document of title to goods” includes a bill of lading, dock-warrant, warehouse keeper’s certificate, wharfingers’ certificate, railway receipt, multimodal transport document, warrant or order for the delivery of goods and any other document used in the ordinary course of business as proof of the possession or control of goods, or authorising or purporting to authorise, either by endorsement or by delivery, the possessor of the document to transfer or receive goods thereby represented.
Fault:
According to Section 2(5) of the Sale of Goods Act, 1930, “fault” means wrongful act or default.
Insolvent:
According to Section 2(8) of the Sale of Goods Act, 1930, a person is said to be “insolvent” who has ceased to pay his debts in the ordinary course of business, or cannot pay his debts as they become due, whether he has committed an act of insolvency or not.
Mercantile Agent:
According to Section 2(8) of the Sale of Goods Act, 1930, “mercantile agent” means a mercantile agent having in the customary course of business as such agent authority either to sell goods, or to consign goods for the purposes of sale, or to buy goods, or to raise money on the security of goods;
According to Section 2(15) of the Sale of Goods Act, 1930, expressions used but not defined in this Act and defined in the Indian Contract Act, 1872 (9 of 1872), have the meaning assigned to them in that Act.