4 SALE COMPLETION ERROR. 



admitted, that according to the law of Ireland, a person from 

 whom a horse had been stolen, which was afterwards sold 

 with certain formalities in open market there, could not 

 claim it from the purchaser unless he had within six months 

 prosecuted the thief to conviction, and that no conviction 

 had taken place in this case. On consideration of the 

 evidence, it was held that the sale took place in open market 

 in Ireland, and that as the pursuer had neither averred nor 

 proved that the sale in open market was defective in any 

 of the requisite formalities, the defender was entitled to 

 absolvitor, (a) 



3. Completion of the Contract. — The contract is complete 

 when the parties have come to an agreement : the buyer to 

 pay a definite price, the seller to deliver a certam horse ; (h) 

 and where there is a bargain to deliver before a certain time, 

 and one party renounces and declares the bargain off, that 

 is a breach of contract ; and the other party may sue for 

 specific implement or damages, (c) These two elements, — 

 the certain article and the price, — are the essentials of all 

 sales; and, therefore, if there be any essential error as to 

 these, there is no contract. (cZ) 



4. Essential Error. — If one buys too dear or sells too 

 cheap, the law will give him no relief against his folly, pro- 

 vided there be no fraud on the part of the seller, (e) But 

 when an error, either as to the horse or horses bought, or as 

 to the price paid, or to be paid, for it or them, is of such a 

 kind as to prevent a bargain being concluded according to 

 the intention of the parties, it is essential error, (/) and is a 

 ground for the contract being annulled, or for what has been 



(a) Todd V. Arjnour, 1882, 9 R. 901. 

 (h) B. Pr. 89. 



(c) .Da7iuhe v. Xenos, 1862, 31 L.J., C.P. 284. 



(d) Ersk. iii. 1, 16 ; Stair, i. 10, 14 ; B. Pr. 90. 



(e) B. Pr. 11. 



(/) Stair, i. 10, 13 ; Ersk. iii. 1, 16. 



