Section 2 of Sale of Goods Act CAP 31: Interpretation
(1) In this Act, except where the context otherwise requires— “action” includes counterclaim and set-off;
“buyer” means a person who buys or agrees to buy goods;
“contract of sale” includes an agreement to sell as well as a sale;
“delivery” means voluntary transfer of possession from one person to another;
“document of title to goods” includes a bill of lading, dock warrant, warehouse-keeper’s certificate or 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” means wrongful act or default;
“future goods” means goods to be manufactured or acquired by the seller after the making of the contract of sale;
“goods” includes all chattels personal other than things in action and money, and all emblements, industrial growing crops and things attached to or forming part of the land which are agreed to be severed before sale or under the contract of sale;
“plaintiff” includes a defendant counterclaiming;
“property” means the general property in goods, and not merely a special property;
“quality of goods” includes their state or condition;
“sale” includes a bargain and sale as well as a sale and delivery;
“seller” means a person who sells or agrees to sell goods;
“specific goods” means goods identified and agreed upon at the time a contract of sale is made;
“warranty” means an agreement with reference to goods which are the subject of a contract of sale, but collateral to the main purpose of the contract, the breach of which gives rise to a claim for damages, but not to a right to reject the goods and treat the contract as repudiated.
(2) A thing is deemed to be done in good faith within the meaning of this Act when it is in fact done honestly, whether it be done negligently or not.
(3) A person is deemed to be insolvent within the meaning of this Act who either 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 bankruptcy or not.
(4) Goods are in a deliverable state within the meaning of this Act when they are in such a state that the buyer would under the contract be bound to take delivery of them.
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- Section 3 - Sale and agreement to sell
(1) A contract of sale of goods is a contract whereby the seller to sell. transfers or agrees to transfer the property in goods to the buyer for a money consideration, called the price.
(2) There...
- Section 4 - Capacity to buy and sell
(1) Capacity to buy and sell is regulated by the general law concerning capacityto contract, and to transfer and acquire property:
Provided that, where necessaries are sold and delivered to an infant...
- Section 5 - Contract of sale, how made
Subject to the provisions of this Act and of any Act in that behalf, a contract of sale may be made in writing (either with or without seal) or by word of mouth, or partly in writing and partly by...
- Section 6 - Contract of sale for ten pounds or more to be in writing
(1) A contract for the sale of any goods of the value of two hundred shillingsor upwards shall not be enforceable by action unless the buyer accepts part of the goods so sold, and actually receives...
- Section 7 - Existing or future goods
(1) The goods which form the subject of a contract of sale may be either existinggoods, owned or possessed by the seller, or goods to be manufactured or acquired by the seller after the making of the...
- Section 8 - Sale of perished goods
Where there is a contract for the sale of specific goods, and the goods without the knowledge of the seller have perished at the time when the contract is made, the contract is void.
- Section 9 - Goods perished 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 before the risk passes to the buyer, the agreement is...
- Section 10 - Ascertainment of price
(1) The price in a contract of sale may be fixed by the contract, or may be leftto be fixed in a manner thereby agreed, or may be determined by the course of dealing between the parties.
(2) Where...
- Section 11 - Agreement to sell at valuation
(1) Where there is an agreement to sell goods on the terms that the price isto be fixed by the valuation of a third party, and the third party cannot or does not make a valuation, the agreement is...
- Section 12 - Stipulations as to time
(1) Unless a different intention appears from the terms of the contract,stipulations as to time of payment are not deemed to be of the essence of a contract of sale.
(2) Whether any other stipulation...
- Section 13 - When condition to be treated as warranty
(1) Where a contract of sale is subject to any condition to be fulfilled by the seller, the buyer may waive the condition, or may elect to treat the breach of condition as a breach of warranty and not...
- Section 14 - Condition and warranties implied in contracts of sale
In a contract of sale, unless the circumstances of the contract are such as to show a different intention, there is—
(a) an implied condition on the part of the seller that in the case of a sale he...
- Section 15 - Conditions implied by description
Where there is a contract for the sale of goods by description, there is an implied condition that the goods shall correspond with the description; and, if the sale is by sample as well as by...
- Section 16 - No implied warranty as to fitness, except in certain cases
Subject to the provisions of this Act and of any Act in that behalf, there is no implied warranty or condition as to the quality or fitness for any particular purpose of goods supplied under a...
- Section 17 - Sale by sample
(1) A contract of sale is a contract for sale by sample where there is a term inthe contract, express or implied, to that effect.
(2) In the case of a contract for sale by sample there is—
(a) an...
- Section 18 - Property in unascertained goods
Where there is a contract for the sale of unascertained goods, no property in the goods is transferred to the buyer unless and until the goods are ascertained.
- Section 19 - Property in specific or ascertained goods passes when intended to pass
(1) Where there is a contract for the sale of specific or ascertained goods, the property in them is transferred to the buyer at such time as the parties to the contract intend it to be...
- Section 20 - Rules for ascertaining intention as to time when property passes
Unless a different intention appears, the following rules apply for ascertaining the intention of the parties as to the time at which the property in the goods is to pass to the buyer—
(a) where...
- Section 21 - Reservation by seller of right of disposal
(1) Where there is a contract for the sale of specific goods, or where goods are subsequently appropriated to the contract, the seller may, by the terms of the contract or appropriation, reserve the...
- Section 22 - Risk prima facie passes with property
Unless otherwise agreed, the goods remain at the seller’s risk until the property therein is transferred to the buyer, but when the property therein is transferred to the buyer the goods are at the...
- Section 23 - Sale by person not the owner
(1) Subject to the provisions of this Act, where goods are sold by a person whois not the owner thereof, and who does not sell them under the authority or with the consent of the owner, the buyer...
- Section 24 - Sale under voidable title
When the seller of goods has a voidable title thereto, but his title has not been avoided at the time of the sale, the buyer acquires a good title to the goods, provided he buys them in good faith and...
- Section 25 - Revesting of property in stolen goods on conviction of offender
(1) Where goods have been stolen and the offender is prosecuted to conviction,the property in the goods so stolen revests in the person who was the owner of the goods, or his personal representative,...
- Section 26 - Resale of goods in certain cases
(1) Where a person having sold goods continues or is in possession of the goods, or of the documents of title to the goods, the delivery or transfer by that person, or by a mercantile agent acting for...
- Section 27 - Effect of writs of execution
(1) A writ of fieri facias or other writ of execution against goods shall bind the property in the goods of the execution debtor as from the time when the writ is delivered to the sheriff to be...
- Section 28 - Duties of seller and buyer
It is the duty of the seller to deliver the goods, and of the buyer to accept and pay for them, in accordance with the terms of the contract of sale.
- Section 29 - Payment and delivery concurrent conditions
Unless otherwise agreed, delivery of the goods and payment of the price are concurrent conditions, that is to say, the seller must be ready and willing to give possession of the goods to the buyer in...
- Section 30 - Rules as to delivery
(1) Whether it is for the buyer to take possession of the goods or for the seller to send them to the buyer is a question depending in each case on the contract, express or implied, between the...
- Section 31 - Delivery of wrong quantity or description
(1) Where the seller delivers to the buyer a quantity of goods less than hecontracted to sell, the buyer may reject them, but if the buyer accepts the goods so delivered he must pay for them at the...
- Section 32 - Delivery by instalments
(1) Unless otherwise agreed, the buyer of goods is not bound to accept deliverythereof by instalments.
(2) Where there is a contract for the sale of goods to be delivered by stated instalments and to...
- Section 33 - Delivery to carrier as buyer’s agent
(1) Where, in pursuance of a contract of sale, the seller is authorised or required to send the goods to the buyer, delivery of the goods to the carrier, whether named by the buyer or not, for the...
- Section 34 - Risk where goods delivered elsewhere than at place of sale
Where the seller of goods agrees to deliver them at his own risk at a place other than that where they are when sold, the buyer must nevertheless, unless otherwise agreed, take any risk of...
- Section 35 - Buyer’s right of examining the goods
(1) Where goods are delivered to the buyer which he has not previouslyexamined, he is not deemed to have accepted them unless and until he has had a reasonable opportunity of examining them for the...
- Section 36 - Acceptance
The buyer is deemed to have accepted the goods when he intimates to the seller that he has accepted them or when the goods have been delivered to him, and he does any act in relation to them which is...
- Section 37 - Buyer is not bound to return rejected goods
Unless otherwise agreed, where goods are delivered to the buyer, and he refuses to accept them, having the right so to do, he is not bound to return them to the seller, but it is sufficient if he...
- Section 38 - Liability of buyer for neglecting or refusing delivery of goods
When the seller is ready and willing to deliver the goods, and requests the buyer to take delivery, and the buyer does not within a reasonable time after the request take delivery of the goods, he is...
- Section 39 - Unpaid seller defined
(1) The seller of goods is deemed to be an unpaid seller within the meaningof this Act—
(a) when the whole of the price has not been paid or tendered;
(b) when a bill of exchange or other negotiable...
- Section 40 - Rights of unpaid seller
(1) Subject to the provisions of this Act, and of any Act in that behalf,notwithstanding that the property in the goods may have passed to the buyer, the unpaid seller of goods, as such, has by...
- Section 41 - Seller’s lien
(1) Subject to the provisions of this Act, the unpaid seller of goods who is inpossession of them is entitled to retain possession of them until payment or tender of the price in the following...
- Section 42 - Lien after part delivery
Where an unpaid seller has made part delivery of the goods, he may exercise his right of lien or retention on the remainder unless the part delivery has been made under such circumstances as to show...
- Section 43 - Termination of lien
(1) The unpaid seller of goods loses his lien or right of retention thereon—
(a) when he delivers the goods to a carrier or other bailee or custodier for the purpose of transmission to the buyer...
- Section 44 - Right of stoppage in transitu
Subject to the provisions of this Act, when the buyer of goods becomes insolvent, the unpaid seller who has parted with the possession of the goods has the right of stopping them in transitu, that is...
- Section 45 - Duration of transit
(1) Goods are deemed to be in course of transit from the time when they are delivered to a carrier by land, air or water, or other bailee or custodier for the purpose of transmission to the buyer,...
- Section 46 - Mode of stoppage in transitu
(1) The unpaid seller may exercise his right of stoppage in transitu either by taking actual possession of the goods, or by giving notice of his claim to the carrier or other bailee or custodier in...
- Section 47 - Effect of subsale or pledge by buyer
Subject to the provisions of this Act, the unpaid seller’s right of lien or retention or stoppage in transitu is not affected by any sale or other disposition of the goods which the buyer may have...
- Section 48 - Effect on sale of exercise of lien or stoppage in transitu
(1) Subject to the provisions of this section, a contract of sale is not rescindedby the mere exercise by an unpaid seller of his right of lien or retention or stoppage in transitu.
(2) Where an...
- Section 49 - Action for price
(1) Where, under a contract of sale, the property in the goods has passed to thebuyer, and the buyer wrongfully neglects or refuses to pay for the goods according to the terms of the contract, the...
- Section 50 - Action for non-acceptance
(1) Where the buyer wrongfully neglects or refuses to accept and pay forthe goods, the seller may maintain an action against him for damages for nonacceptance.
(2) The measure of damages is the...
- Section 51 - Action for non-delivery
(1) Where the seller wrongfully neglects or refuses to deliver the goods to the buyer, the buyer may maintain an action against the seller for damages for Non delivery.
(2) The measure of damages is...
- Section 52 - Right to specific performance
(1) In any action for breach of contract to deliver specific or ascertained goodsthe court may, if it thinks fit, on the application of the plaintiff, by its judgment or decree direct that the...