additional appropriation be made, for the purpose indicated, of three hundred dollars.

We conclude this report with an examination of the cases that have arisen under this law during the last year, in the courts of the States that have adopted it, with reference to the sections of the law as adopted in this State.

In accordance with Chapter 352, section 4, of the Public Laws, passed May 15, 1896, we report that the expenses of the board for the past year have been two hundred dollars for travelling and incidental expenses, which amount, being insufficient the commissioners have themselves paid the deficiency.

AMASA M. EATON,

CLARKE H. JOHNSON,
WM. R. TILLINGHAST,

Commissioners.

2

EXHIBIT A.

The original draft of the sales was prepared in 1902-03 by Prof. Samuel Williston, of Cambridge, Massachusetts, at the request of the Commissioners on Uniform State Laws in National Conference. It was printed in the summer of 1903 and sent, with a request for criticism, to teachers of the Law of Sales and to other experts on the subject. Some criticisms were received, and with the light of these criticisms and his own further reflection, the draftsman presented to the Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws, at its meeting at St. Louis, September 22, 23, and 24, 1904, a number of suggested amendments.

The draft was then gone over carefully, section by section, by the conference. Doubtful points and changes in wording were discussed and voted upon. The draft was then recommitted to the Committee on Commercial Law, with instructions to embody the changes adopted by the conference and to present a revised draft at the meeting of the conference in August, 1905.

No other draft was presented, in accordance with these instructions, at the meeting of the conference at Narragansett Pier in August, 1905. This draft included for the first time a number of sections on the transfer of property by means of documents of title. These sections are numbered sections 27-40 in the present draft. Because of these sections, it was thought best once more to recommit the draft. At the meeting of the conference in St. Paul, in August, 1906, the following resolution was adopted:

"Be it Resolved, by the Commissioners on Uniform State Laws at their annual conference, held this twenty-eighth day of August, 1906:

“(1) That the draft of an act entitled 'Draft of an Act to make Uniform the Law of Sales' be approved, and that the legislatures of the several States be requested and are urged to enact the same law.

"(2) That Prof. Samuel Williston shall prepare appropriate notes of each section and correct any verbal inaccuracies therein.

'(3) That the Committee on Commercial Law cause said draft, act, and annotations, together with appropriate preface, introduction, and other matter that said committee may consider proper, to be printed and distributed.

"(4) That a sum not to exceed two hundred ($200) dollars be appropriated to the use of said committee for the printing and distribution of said act.

(5) That the Assistant Secretary shall be the secretary of said committee and aid in the discharge of its duties."

DRAFT OF AN ACT TO MAKE UNIFORM THE LAW RELAT

ING TO THE SALE OF GOODS.

PART I.

FORMATION OF THE CONTRACT.

SECTION 1.-[CONTRACTS TO SELL AND SALES.] (1.) A contract. to sell goods is a contract whereby the seller agrees to transfer the property in goods to the buyer for a consideration called the price.

(2.) A sale of goods is an agreement whereby the seller transfers the property in goods to the buyer for a consideration called the price.

(3.) A contract to sell or a sale may be absolute or conditional. (4.) There may be a contract to sell or a sale between one part owner and another.

The most fundamental distinction in the law of sales is between a contract to sell in the future and a present sale. This distinction is defined in this section and is observed throughout the draft. The phrase "Contract of Sale" used in the English Act has been discarded.

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SECTION 2. [CAPACITY-LIABILITY FOR NECESSARIES.] Capacity to buy and sell is regulated by the general law concerning capacity to contract, and to transfer and acquire property.

Where necessaries are sold and delivered to an infant, or to a person who by reason of mental incapacity or drunkenness is incompetent to contract, he must pay a reasonable price therefor.

Necessaries in this section mean goods suitable to the condition in life of such infant or other person, and to his actual requirements at the time of delivery.

This section states the prevailing, though not wholly uniform, doctrine of the existing law. Mechem on Sales, § 122, et seq. The section follows verbatim Section 2 of the English Act except that the words "the sale and" which precede the last word in the section are omitted as introducing a possible ambiguity.