32 



CONTRACTS CONCERNING HORSES, ETC. 



Buyer's right 

 of possession 

 "where goods 

 are sold on 

 credit. 

 How it may- 

 be defeated. 



Seller's lien 

 during pos- 

 session. 



His right of 

 stoppage in 

 transitu. 



When goods 

 are held to be 

 in transittc. 



When any- 

 thing remains 

 to be done by 

 seller. 



Horse of B., which, is not to be delivered until the price 

 be paid, but B. in the meantime allows A. to take the 

 Horse for a day or a week to drive, the lien of B. is not 

 determined, but merely suspended during the time for 

 which he allows A. to take the Horse (u). 



If goods are sold upon credit, and nothing is agreed 

 upon as to the time of delivering them, the buyer is 

 immediately entitled to the possession, and the right of 

 possession and the right of property vest at once in him {v). 



But his right of possession is not absolute ; it is liable 

 to be defeated if he becomes bankrupt before he obtains 

 possession {ir). 



The sale of a specific chattel on credit, though that 

 credit may be limited to a definite period, transfers the 

 property in the goods to the vendee, giving the vendor a 

 right of action for the price, and a lien upon the goods, 

 if they remain in his possession, till that price be paid, 

 but default of payment does not rescind the contract {x). 



The seller of goods has not only a lien on them for the 

 price, whilst they are in his possession, but when the price 

 is unpaid, he may, after he has parted with the possession 

 of the goods, and whilst they are in transitu, retake them 

 in the event of the Bankruptcy or Insolvency of the buyer (//). 



Stoppage in transitu, as its name imports, can only 

 take place whilst the goods are on their way to the buyer ; 

 and the rule to be collected fi-om the cases is, that they 

 are in transitu so long as they are in the hands of the 

 carrier as such (;:), and also so long as they remain in any 

 place of deposit connected with their transmission {a). 



And so long as there remains any thing to be done by 

 the seller, or at his risk or charge, the transit is incom- 

 plete. Thus, where corn was to be conveyed from the 

 warehouse at the railway to the buyer's waggons, at the 

 expense of the seller, it was held, even after it had reached 

 the station, to be still in transitu (b). 



{u) See Stoiy on Sales, 236; 

 Reeves v. Capper, 5 Bing. N. C. 

 136 ; and see Benj. on Sales, 667. 



{v) Bloxam v. Sanders, 4 B. & C. 

 948. 



{w) Ibid. ; Tootce v. HolUngs- 

 worth, 5 T. R. 215 ; Ex parte Chal- 

 mers, L. R., 8 Ch. App. 289 ; and 

 see Chitty on Contracts, 10th ed. 

 392. 



[x) See per Cur., Martindale v. 

 Smith, 1 Q. B. 395; Tarling v. 



Baxter, 6 B. <& C. 362 ; Ex parte 

 Chalmers, 8 Ch. App. 289. 



[y) See Chit. Contr. 1 1th ed. 400 ; 

 Lickbarroiv v. Mason, 2 T. R. 63. 



{£) Whitehead v. Anderson, 9 M. 

 & W. 518. 



{a) See 1 Smith's Leading Cases, 

 8th ed. 816. 



{h) Ex parte Cross, re Flgot, Court 

 of Bankruptcy, 17 L. T. 160; see 

 Coombs V. Bristol, ^-c. B. Co., 27 

 L. J., Ex. 401. 



