The Sale of Goods Act, 1930

The Sale of Goods Act, 1930

Preamble

3 of 1930

(15th March, 1930)

An Act to define and amend the law relating to the sale of goods.

WHEREAS it is expedient to define and amend the law relating to the sale of goods, it is hereby enacted as follows: -

Chapter 1 - Preliminary

1. Short title, extent and commencement.- (1) This Act may be called the Sale of Goods Act, 1930.

2) It extends to the whole of India (except the State of Jammu and Kashmir).

(3) It shall come into force on the 1st day of July, 1930

2. Definitions .- In this Act, unless there is anything repugnant in the subject of content-

(1) �buyer" means a person who buys or agrees to buy goods,

(2) "delivery" means voluntary transfer of possession from one person to another

3. Applications of provisions of Act 9 of 1882.- The unrepealed provisions of the Indian Contract Act, 1872 save insofar as they are inconsistent with the express provisions of this Act, shall continue to apply to contracts for sale of goods.

Chapter 2 - Formation of the Contract

4. Sale and agreement to sell.- (1) A contract of sale of goods is a contract whereby the seller transfers or agrees to transfer the property in goods to the buyer for a price. There may be a contract of sale between one part-owner and another.

(2) A contract of sale may be absolute or conditional

(3) Where under a contract of sale the property in the goods in transferred from the seller to the buyer, the contract is called a sale, but where the transfer of the property in the goods is to take place at a future time or subject to some condition thereafter to be fulfilled, the contract is called an agreement to sell.

(4) An agreement to sell becomes a sale when the time elapses or the conditions are fulfilled subject to which the property in the goods is to be transferred.

5. Contract of Sale how made -. (1) A contract of sale is made by an offer to buy or sell goods for a price and the acceptance of such offer. The contract may provide for the immediate delivery of the goods or immediate payment of the price or both, or for the delivery or payment by instalments, or that the delivery or payment or both shall be postponed.

(2) Subject to the provisions of any law for the time being in force, a contract of sale may be made in writing or by word of mouth, or partly in writing and partly by word of mouth or may be implied from the conduct of the parties.

6. Existing or future goods.- (1) The goods which form the subject of a contract of sale may be either existing goods, owned or possessed by the seller, or future goods.

(2) There may be a contract for the sale of goods the acquisition of which by the seller depends upon a contingency which may or may not happen.

(3) Where by a contract of sale the seller purports to effect a present sale of future goods, the contract operates as an agreement to sell the goods.

7. Goods perishing before making of contract.- Where there is a contract for the sale of specific goods, the contract is void if the goods without the knowledge of the seller have, at the time when the contract was made, perished or become so damaged as no longer to answer to their description in the contract.

8. Goods perishing before sale but after agreement to sell.- Where there is an agreement to sell specific goods, and subsequently the goods without any fault on the part of the seller or buyer perish or become so damaged as no longer to answer to their description in the agreement before the risk passes to the buyer, the agreement is thereby avoided.

9. Ascertainment of price.- (1) The price in a contract of sale may be fixed by the contract or may be left to be fixed in manner thereby agreed or may be determined by the course of dealing between the parties.

(2) Where the price is not determined in accordance with the foregoing provisions, the buyer shall pay the seller a reasonable price. What is a reasonable price is a question of fact dependent