Meaning and Classification of Goods Under Sale of Goods Act' 1930

Sale of Goods Act' 1930 Notes
Business Laws Notes B.Com 1st & 2nd Sem CBCS Pattern 

Meaning of “Goods’ under the Sale of Goods Act, 1930

Goods: The subject-matter of the contract of sale must be ‘goods’. According to Section 2(7) “goods means every kind of movable 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.” Goodwill, trademarks, copyrights, patents right, water, gas, electricity,, decree of a court of law, are all regarded as goods. In the case of land the grass which forms part of land have to be separated from the land. Thus where trees sold so that they could be cut out and separated from the land and then taken away by the buyer, it was held that there was a contract for sale of movable property or goods (Kursell vs Timber Operators & Contractors Ltd.). But contracts for sale of things ‘forming part of the land itself’ are not contracts for sale of goods. 

Classification of 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.