Sale of Goods

Elements of a sale, sale contract and goods

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. It thus includes both an actual 'sale' and an 'agreement to sell', which has been distinguished later.

'Goods' means every kind of movable property other than actionable claims and money; and includes stocks and shares, growing crops, grass and things attached to or forming part of the land, which are agreed to be served from land before sale, or under for contract of sale.

A 'sale' must be distinguished from an 'agreement to sell' since the legal implications of the two terms are vastly different. A contract wherein, the property in the goods is transferred from the seller to the buyer, the contract is called a sale, but where the transfer of property in the goods is to take place at a future time, or subject to some conditions, thereafter to be fulfilled, it is called an agreement to sell. 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.