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188 Chapter 7The Sale of Goods Act 1979

Rule 3 – Goods to be weighed, measured or tested by the seller to find the price

Rule 3 applies where the seller has to weigh, measure or test the goods, in order to find the

price. It provides that in such a case ownership is not to pass until the goods have been

weighed, measured or tested and the buyer has been informed of this.

It is important to notice two things here:

(i) The rule applies only where the weighing etc. has to be done by the seller.

(ii) The weighing etc. must be required in order to find the price.

Example

Ben visits Stan’s scrap yard and sees a heap of copper. It is agreed that Ben will buy the

heap of copper at £4,000 a tonne and that Stan will weigh the heap to see how much Ben

has to pay. The ownership will pass when Stan has weighed the heap and told Ben that this

has been done. (If it had been agreed that Ben would weigh the copper, then Rule 1 would

have applied. Ownership would therefore have passed to Ben as soon as the contract was

made.)

Rule 4 – Goods delivered on approval, sale or return or other similar terms

Goods are delivered on approval where the buyer has a choice as to whether or not to buy

the goods delivered. Goods are delivered on sale or return where it is understood that the

buyer is going to try to resell the goods. If the buyer cannot resell the goods then they will

Rule 2 – Specific goods which the seller must put into a deliverable state

Section 18 Rule 2 provides that where there is a contract for the sale of specific goods

and the seller is bound to do something to the goods to put them into a deliverable state,

ownership passes when the seller has done the thing and the buyer has notice that it has

been done.

Underwood Ltd vBurgh Castle Brick and Cement Syndicate (1922)

(Court of Appeal)

On 20 February a 30-ton engine was sold. The contract obliged the seller to detach the

engine from a concrete casing and to put it on a train. ( This would take over two weeks.)

While the engine was being loaded on the train it became damaged.

HeldOwnership had not passed to the buyer at the time of the damage. The engine was

not in a deliverable state at the time of sale. The seller was obliged to free the engine and

put it on a train in order to put it into a deliverable state. Ownership would pass to the buyer

only when the seller had done these things and had told the buyer that they had been done.

CommentIt was not the great weight of the engine which prevented it from being in a

deliverable state. A ship which the seller has finished building could be in a deliverable

state, even though it might weigh many thousand tons. The goods were not in a deliverable

state because when they were sold the seller still had to do something to the goods, that

is to free them from the concrete and put them on a train.