Question 3 (d)

Subject matter of a contract of sale: order for a farmer's crop

9 marks

Time to write: About 18 minutes
Topic: Contract of sale, goods and property

Question

Question 3 (d) · 9 marks

Mr. X placed an order with a farmer, Mr. Y, for 350 units of a specific crop products. In the light of this illustration, discuss, under sales of Goods Act, 1930, the subject matter of a contract of sale, and the types of goods which forms that subject matter.

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

18 minfor 9 marks

Read from the question

illustrationExamples are asked for: one short example with each point.

Write it in this order

Read; underline the asks; jot your points 1 min
1 Subject matter and definition of goods 2½ marks 4 min
2 Types of goods 4 marks 7 min
3 Application to the illustration 2½ marks 4 min
Check: every ask answered, key terms underlined 2 min

123

Short on time? Trim steps 1–3 evenly rather than skip one: each is capped at its own marks.

Try it first. About 18 minutes for 9 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.

Rule: subject matter. The subject matter of a contract of sale must be goods: movable property, either existing goods that the seller owns or possesses, or future goods (s. 6).

Goods (s. 2(7), Sale of Goods Act, 1930) are movable property of every kind except actionable claims and money; the term takes in stock and shares, growing crops, grass, and things that are attached to the land or form part of it that the parties agree will be severed before the sale or under the contract of sale.

Types of goods:

Existing goods (s. 6): goods owned or possessed by the seller at the time of the contract. They are:
- specific goods (s. 2(14)), identified and agreed upon when the contract is made (a particular car);
- ascertained goods, identified in accordance with the agreement after the contract is made; and
- unascertained goods, defined only by description and not yet identified (100 bags of wheat out of a godown).
Future goods (s. 2(6)): goods to be manufactured, produced or acquired by the seller after the contract. A contract to sell future goods is always an agreement to sell: T agrees to sell S all the oranges his garden will produce this year.
Contingent goods (s. 6(2)): goods whose acquisition by the seller depends on an uncertain event; they too operate as an agreement to sell, not a sale.

Application. Mr. X ordered 350 units of a specific crop from the farmer Mr. Y. Growing crops are goods, so the subject matter of the contract is goods within section 2(7). Which kind of goods they are depends on facts the question does not give:

if the crop is still to be grown by Mr. Y after the contract, the units are future goods, and the contract is an agreement to sell;
if the crop already exists and the 350 units were identified and agreed upon when the order was made, they are specific goods;
if the crop already exists but the 350 units are an unidentified part of a larger quantity, they are unascertained goods until they are identified, when they become ascertained goods.

Conclusion. Mr. X's order is a valid contract of sale whose subject matter is goods. Whether those goods are future, specific or unascertained turns on whether the crop exists and whether the 350 units were identified when the order was made.

Where the 9 marks sit

#	Component	Marks
1	Subject matter and definition of goods	2.5
2	Types of goods	4
3	Application to the illustration	2.5
	Total	9

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