24 STOPPAGE IN TRANSITU. 



become bankrupt or insolvent, or is vergens ad inoinain,{a) 

 after they are out of his possession, and before they come 

 into the possession of the buyer, (6) and entitles him to 

 retain them until payment or tender of the price, (c) Non- 

 payment of the price is the basis of the right of stoppage; and 

 it is competent only when the transit between the seller and 

 the buyer is not at an end. {d) Transit begins by delivery to 

 a carrier, or other depository for transmission, and ends where 

 the buyer or his agent takes delivery from the middleman, (e) 

 The rules as to the exercise of this right depend upon 

 delivery. They are as follows : — 1. Actual delivery (/) puts 

 an end to the transit, and the right to stop. Except — (1) 

 when the sale is for ready money, and delivery takes place 

 before the price is paid ; or when the reciprocal obligations 

 are contemporary, the delivery being then conditional ; {g) 

 and (2) where the goods are taken into the buyer's custody 

 for safety after insolvency, (/i) 2. Constructive delivery to 

 a third party for the buyer to abide his order puts an end to 

 the right to stop, (i) but till an operation effecting appropria- 

 tion or transference, (j) the seller may stop. Thus, a horse 

 delivered into a purchaser's own ship, or a ship hired by him 

 on a time bargain, cannot be stopped ; but if the ship be 

 hired by the voyage it may, because the shipmaster in such 

 a case is the ship-owner's servant, not the purchaser's, (/v) 

 3. In all cases where delivery is made to a middleman, the 

 right to stop is determined by the constructive possession of 



(a) B. Pr. 1307. 

 {b) Ersk. iii. 3, 8, n. 



(c) Kank. Ersk. iii. 3, 4, a. 



(d) B. Pr. 1308 ; Benj. 843, 881, 904. 



(e) Rank. Ersk. cit. 



(/) §16. 



(cj) B. Pr. 1308 ; Watt v. Finlay, 1846, 8 D. 529. 



(A) Steins v. Hutchison, 1810, 16 F.C. 33 ; Inylis v. Port Eylinton, ttr., Com- 

 pany, 1842, 4 D. 478. 



(i) Strachan v. Knox, Jan. 1817, 19 E.G. 253; lUchardson v. tioss, 1802, 3 B. 

 and P. 119 ; Black v. Cassdls, 1828, 6 S. S94. 



(i) § 18. 



(k) B. Pr. 1308, and cases there cited. 



