SOGA 2 — Definitions

Sale of Goods Act, 1930

Statutory text

In this Act, unless there is anything repugnant in the subject or context,—

(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) 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;

(4) “document of title to goods” includes a bill of lading, dockwarrant, 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;

(5) “fault” means wrongful act or default;

(6) “future goods” means goods to be manufactured or produced or acquired by the seller after the making of the contract of sale;

(7) “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;

(8) 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;

(9) “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;

(10) “price” means the money consideration for a sale of goods;

1. The Act has been extended to Berar by Act 4 of 1941, to Dadra and Nagar Haveli by Reg. 6 of 1963, s. 2 and the First Schedule (w.e.f. 1-7-1965); to Goa, Daman and Diu by Reg. 11 of 1963, s. 3 and the Schedule; to Pondicherry by the Pondicherry (Extension of Laws) Act, 1968, s. 3 and Schedule; to Lakshadweep by Reg. 8 of 1965, s. 3 and the Schedule (w.e f. 1-10-1967); and to Sikkim on 1-91984 vide Notification No. S.O. 645 (E), dated 24-8-1984, Gazette of India, Extraordinary, Pt. II, Sec. 3(11).

(11) “property” means the general property in goods, and not merely a special property;

(12) “quality of goods” includes their state or condition;

(13) “seller” means a person who sells or agrees to sell goods;

(14) “specific goods” means goods identified and agreed upon at the time a contract of sale is made; and (15) 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.

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