Question 2 OR (b)
Nemo dat quod non habet and its exceptions
6 marks
- Time to write
- About 12 minutes
From an older CBCS paper
Question
Question 2 OR (b) · 6 marks“To the buyer, a seller cannot convey a better title than the one he himself has.” Explain the statement, giving the exceptions to this rule, if any.
Reworded from the university paper; the task is the same. The original paper belongs to the University of Delhi. See DU's question bank.
Before you write
Read off the question and its marks
Read from the question
- ExplainTie the answer to the quoted statement: say what it means first, and come back to it at the end.
Write it in this order
- Read; underline the asks; jot your points 1 min
- 1 The rule in section 27 2 marks 2 min
- 2 Exceptions 4 marks 8 min
- Check: every ask answered, key terms underlined 1 min
Easy marks
- The rule in section 27 (step 1, 2 marks): state the rule and its section exactly. It earns its marks before you apply it to the facts.
Short on time? Cut step 2 short rather than leave anything out.
Try it first. About 12 minutes for 6 marks. Write it out, then open the solution.
Solution
Hover or tap a marked figure, like 72,000, to see how it is made and where else it appears.
The rule. A buyer gets no better title than his seller had: if the seller is not the owner, and sells without the owner's authority or consent, the buyer does not become the owner either (s. 27). This is the maxim nemo dat quod non habet: a person can pass on only the title he holds. It protects the true owner.
1A stolen cycle sold on the footpath passes no title—the buyer's cash buys him nothing.
Nemo dat quod non habetA person cannot pass on a title he does not have.
2But the agent holding the owner's car and papers with consent can pass a good title.
Sale by a mercantile agentIf he was in possession of the goods or documents of title with the owner's consent
3And the seller still holding the sold goods can pass title to an innocent second buyer.
Sale by a seller in possession after saleDelivers or transfers the goods or their documents of title to a person who receives them in good faith without notice of the previous sale
Exceptions. In the following cases a buyer who acts in good faith gets a good title from a seller who is not the owner:
- Mercantile agent (proviso to s. 27): the agent holds the goods or documents of title with the owner's consent, sells in the ordinary course of his business as a mercantile agent, and the buyer, acting in good faith, has no notice when he buys that the agent had no authority to sell.
- Joint owner (s. 28): one of several joint owners has sole possession with the others' permission, and the buyer buys in good faith without notice that he has no authority to sell.
- Possession under a voidable contract (s. 29): the seller obtained the goods under a contract voidable for coercion, fraud, misrepresentation or undue influence, and resells them before that contract is rescinded.
- Seller in possession after a sale (s. 30(1)): a seller who still holds the goods (or documents of title) after selling them sells them again, and the second buyer takes delivery in good faith without notice of the first sale.
- Buyer in possession before the property passes (s. 30(2)): a buyer who, with the seller's consent, has possession before he owns the goods sells them, and the third person takes delivery in good faith without notice of the original seller's lien or other rights.
- Unpaid seller's resale (s. 54(3)): an unpaid seller who has exercised his lien or right of stoppage and then resells gives the new buyer a good title as against the original buyer.
- Estoppel: where the true owner, by his conduct, has led the buyer to believe that the seller owns the goods or may sell them, he cannot later deny the seller's authority.
- Sales under other Acts: a sale by an Official Receiver or a company's liquidator, a sale by a finder of goods in the circumstances the Contract Act allows, and a sale by a pawnee on the pawnor's default all pass a valid title.
Where the 6 marks sit
| # | Component | Marks |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | The rule in section 27 | 2 |
| 2 | Exceptions | 4 |
| Total | 6 |
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