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it aside, because these circumstances connected with that contract, which would enable the original owner of the goods to reduce it, and to set it aside, will not be allowed to interfere with a title for valuable consideration obtained by some third party during the interval while the contract remained unreduced.

Where goods have been stolen, and the offender is prosecuted to conviction, the property in the goods so stolen revests in the person who was the owner of the goods or his personal representative, notwithstanding any intermediate dealing with them, whether by sale in market overt or otherwise. Notwithstanding any enactment to the contrary (e.g. Section 100 of the Larceny Act, 1861), where goods have been obtained by fraud or other wrongful means, not amounting to larceny, the property in such goods shall not revest in the person who was the owner of the goods, or his personal representative by reason only of the conviction of the offender. But this does not apply to Scotland.

The term "goods" does not include money. An innocent purchaser in market overt who has disposed of the goods, even with notice before conviction of the offender, is not liable to action.

Where a person, having sold goods, continues, or is in possession of the goods, or of the documents of title to the goods, the delivery or transfer by that person, or by a mercantile agent acting for him, of the goods or documents of title under any sale, pledge, or other disposition of them, to any person receiving the same in good faith and without

notice of the previous sale, shall have the same effect as if the person, making the delivery or transfer, were expressly authorised by the owner of the goods to make the same. Moreover, where a person, having bought or agreed to buy goods, obtains, with the consent of the seller, possession of the goods, or the documents of title to the goods, the delivery or transfer by that person, or by a mercantile agent acting for him, of the goods or documents of title, under any sale, pledge, or other disposition of them to any person receiving the same in good faith, and without notice of any lien or other right of the original seller in respect of the goods, shall have the same effect as if the person, making the delivery or transfer, were a' mercantile agent in possession of the goods or documents of title with the consent of the owner.

The term "mercantile agent" signifies a mercantile agent having, in the customary course of. his business as such agent, authority either to sell goods or to consign goods for the purposes of sale, or to buy goods, or to raise money on the security of goods.

Any writ of execution against goods will bind the property in the goods of the execution debtor as from the time when the writ is delivered to the sheriff to be executed; and for the better manifestation of such time, it will be the duty of the sheriff, without fee, upon the receipt of any such writ, to endorse on the back of it the hour, day, month and year when he received the same. But no such writ will prejudice the title to the goods

acquired by any person in good faith and for valuable consideration, unless such person had, at the time when he acquired his title, notice that the writ or any other writ by virtue of which the goods of the execution debtor might be seized or attached has been delivered to and remained unexecuted in the hands of the sheriff. The signification of the term "sheriff” in Section 26 of the Sale of Goods Act, 1893, includes any officer charged with the enforcement of a writ of execution. The provisions, however, of this section of the statute just named, do not apply to Scotland.

CHAPTER V.

Performance of the Contract-Buyer refusing to accept and pay for Goods-Section 17, Statute of Frauds-Goods on board Ship-Where Seller delivers Goods less than he contracted to sell to Buyer-When Buyer not bound to accept delivery of Goods-When Seller under contract authorised or required to send Goods-Delivery of Goods to a Carrier or Wharfinger - Person who instructs Carrier, etc., on behalf of Buyer must make reasonable contract-Carrier agent of Buyer to receive Goods but not to accept them-Where Seller agrees to deliver Goods at his own risk-When Buyer deemed to have accepted Goods - Seller ready and willing to deliver Goods, and Buyer refusing to accept-Consequences.

Performance of the Contract.-It is the duty of the seller to deliver the goods, and of the buyer to accept and pay for them, in accordance with the terms of the contract of sale. "In every contract of sale there is involved a contract on the one side to accept, and on the other to deliver."

If by the terms of the contract the seller engages to deliver the thing sold at a given place, and there be nothing to show that the thing sold was to be in the meantime at the risk of the buyer, the contract is not fulfilled by the seller unless he delivers it accordingly. In a case of the goods being in the possession of a third person to take charge of, subject to charges in that behalf, there is an implied undertaking on the

part of the seller that they shall be delivered to the buyer, on his application, within a reasonable time, and readiness to pay the charges due in respect of them. A buyer of goods becomes the possessor of a right over the property by the contract of sale, although he does not acquire a right of possession to the goods until he pays or tenders the price.

Assuming that the buyer refuses to accept and pay for the goods, the seller has a right of action for damages for breach of contract, and such a right is not affected by his selling the goods to another purchaser. Unless otherwise agreed, delivery of the goods and payment of the price are concurrent conditions, that is to say, the seller must be ready and willing to give possession of the goods to the buyer in exchange for the price, and the buyer must be willing to pay the price in exchange for possession of the goods.

Under Section 17 of the Statute of Frauds (now Section 4 of the Sale of Goods Act, 1893), a contract to deliver goods without mentioning a time for payment signifies that the delivery and the payment shall be contemporaneous acts; and where an action is brought for damages for non-delivery the plaintiff must assert readiness to accept and pay for the goods.

Whether it is for the buyer to take possession of the goods or for the seller to send them to the buyer, is a question depending in each case on the contract, express or implied, between the parties. Apart from any such contract, express or implied,