Goods under Sale of Goods act

Introduction:

Goods is defined in Section 2 (7) as ‘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 severed before sale or under the contract of sale.’ Trademarks, copyrights, patent rights, goodwill, electricity, water and gar are all considered as goods.

Goods may be classified into various types as under:-

1. Existing goods: These are goods which are owned and possessed by the seller at the time of sale. Only existing goods can be the subject-matter of a sale. The existing goods may be:

                                       Specific goods: These are goods which are identified and agreed upon at the time of contract of sale is made. For e.g. a person visit s a Titan showroom and identifies a watch for purchase.

                                                 

                                       Ascertained goods: Though commonly used as similar in meaning to specific goods, these are the goods which become ascertained subsequent to the formation of contract of sale. For e.g. from say 10 Sony T.V. a person identifies the particular T.V.

                                                 

                                       Unascertained goods: These are the goods which are not identified and agreed upon at the time of the contract of sale. They are defined only by description and may form part of a lot. For e.g. a shopkeeper has a bag containing 50 kg of sugar. He agrees to sell 10 kg sugar to X out of that bag The 10 kg of sugar is unascertained goods as they are yet to be identified from the bag containing 50 kg.

2. Future Goods: These are goods which a seller does not possess at the time of the contract but which will be manufactured, or produced, or acquired by him after the making of the contract of sale. [Section 2(6)]. A contract of present sale of future goods, though expresses as an actual sale, purports to operate as an agreement to sell the goods and not a sale. This is because the ownership of a thing cannot be transferred before that thing comes into existence.

3. Contingent Goods: It is a type of future goods but these are goods the acquisition of which by the seller depends upon a contingency which may or may not happen.