The modern era is full of sophisticated technology, trade and industries. Its
is like an age of technology and industrial transformation. There is a huge
difference between the technology of twentieth century and the twenty first
century and now in this era people are more inclined toward electronic gadgets.
But with purchase of gadgets very few bothers about to read all the documents
and read all the conditions like warranty card and all.. And suppose we get any
defected product or default product we loss our claim because of insufficient or
lack of documents and because of which one cant claim any kind of warranty.
As we all knows the sale or purchase of goods forms contractual relations and
these contractual relations leads to certain rights and liabilities. When there
is a breach of these rights and liabilities the breach of contracts arises. In
contract of sale the buyer and seller also makes certain statements on the
stipulation or the course of trade. This stipulation can either be a condition
or warranty about the sale of goods. Some times the stipulation can be treated
as the warrant and some times as conditions.
The seller of the commodity makes various claims about the goods which he is
offering like quality, utility, use, suitability, durability etc.. After
listening all these assurances the buyers get agree on various claims and these
assurances may be act just like part of communication by seller and not a
contract. but, sometime buyer believes on that forms a contracts. As the
assurance which is given by buyer and accepted by buyer will forms
stipulation.
Stipulation can be treated to form its nature which will be
subsidiary or an expression. If the stipulation forms on the basis of the
contracts then ot forms the
condition and if its on collateral to the main
purpose that means less important than contracts, that known as
warranty. Neither the warranty or condition have uniform definition in English law.
Some time they can be treated as one word.
Sale Of Good Act, 1930
As we are talking about conditions and warranties, we should know about its
origin. The status which deals with the terms condition and warrants comes
under the head of Sale of Goods 1930. Its very old type of contracts. The
term condition get defined under the sale of goods act as ' a condition ia a
stipulation essential to the main purpose of the contract, the breach of which
gives rise to a right to treat the contact repudiated.'
The term warranty is define
as a warranty, is a stipulation collateral to the main purpose of the contract,
the breach of which gives rise to a claim for damages but not to a sight to
reject the goods and treat the contract as repudiated. As I mention earlier
that warranty as stipulation is not essential to the main purpose of the
contracts, but it is the subsidiary, so in case of breech, buyer cannot
repudiate the contract but can claims the damages.
Conditions
A condition can be termed as one of the crucial term in agreement of sale
which is mention by the buyer to the seller which can me implied or expressed.
The buyer can cancel the proposal in case of non- compliance with the condition
mentioned by the seller. Condition may be expressed or implied. If there is a
breech of conditions then there is a right to aggrieved party to treat the
contract as repudiated. In case if the buyer had paid, then he is also having
the right to recover the price and can also claim the damages for breach.
For ex. If the buyer expressly mentions that good should be delivered before
stipulated date, then that date will be taken as condition as buyer expressly
mentioned it at the time of contract.
Types Of Conditions:
Expressed Condition
The term defines the statement as a condition which says that something
should be exist or should be there for the fulfillment of contract. These
condition are generally imperative to the functioning and are done only when
both the parties are agree on the said or expressed condition.
Implied Condition
In this type of contract there are several conditions which are implied to the
parties in differefent kind of contrcts of sale. The conditions exists even if
they have not been there in contracts.
The implied contracts comes under the
section 14 to 17 of Sale of Goods Act, 1930 which are as follow:
Implied Conditions As Title:
Here are the several conditions which are implied at the time of sale:
- One should have the title to sell the goods
- In case of selling, at the time of performing contracts one will
have the right to sell the
contracts.
And if the seller has no title to sell he given good then the buyer can refuse
to take those goods and then he will entitle to recover full price paid by him.
Implied Condition As To Description:
- In section 15, the section says that there must be confirm description
about the good. The buyer have the option either to accept or reject the
good if the goods does not match with the description given by seller.
Example- if A buys a new car from B as he believes its new and if it is not
then A can reject the car.
- In section 16 (2) the good should be of merchantable quality which means
that the goods offered by seller should of of quality which would be accept
and satisfies reasonable man. For example- If A orders a bag of wheat from B
and it got damage by rain the condition of merchantability get break here by
B as now its unfit to use. However the examination may not reveal the defect
but it the goods will come out with defect then he have a chance to
repudiate the contract even if the goods are approved.
- In the light of section 17 that is a contract of sale of sample, the
implies conditions will as follow:
- The sample product would corresponds with the actual product in all the
aspects like
quality, colour, size etc
- The reasonable opportunity should be given to buyer by seller so that he
can compare the actual good with sample
- The goods which are free from any type of defect may be render as unmerchantable.
Lets see an example:
suppose a car company sold the car in which outer body is
made up of aluminum by sample sale and later the bulk was delivered and it was
found out that the bulk of car was made up of steel. the buyer was entitle to
give damages and return the price.
With reference with section 15, the sale by description and sale by sample, the
good which will be supplied to the buyer should be in accordance with
description as well as sample. In case of
Nichol v. Godis (1854) the seller
sell one of the refined rape oil. The oil which is delivered was same which was
sell in sample but there was one fault that it was a mixture of other oil too.
So it was held that seller was liable to refund the amount and paid damages
also.
Warranties
As the term warranties is an additional stipulation over the main purpose of
contract. If there is a breech of warranty then the aggrieved or suffered party
cannot repudiate the contract and claim the contract. In other words warranty is
a stipulation which is not essential to the main purpose of contract and if it
will get breach then buyer can only claim the damages.
Kind Of Warranties
- Expressed warranty:
In this the warranty generally both the parties are interested in contracts and
warranty is accepted by both the parties expressly.
- Implied warranty:
In this type of warranty the parties generally assumes that the warranties
have been incorporated at the time of contract of sale. The warranties which
are implied are not specifically mentioned in the contracts.
There are the following implied warranties as follows:
- Warranty as to undisturbed possession
In section 14(2) gives the information that the buyer shall enjoy the
uninterrupted possession of goods which comes under the implied warranty. As a
matter of fact, if the buyer having got possession of the goods, is later
disturbed at any point, he can sue the seller for the breach of warranty.
Example: P purchases second hand car from Q and he have no idea that the
car which he have purchased is stolen one. After he used the car, he was
suppose to return the car. In this P is entitle to sue Q for the breach of
warranty.
- Warranty as to freedom from Encumbrances
With reference to section 14(3), in implied warranty the goods which are in
favors of third party and is not known by buyer then they shall be free from any
charges and encumbrances. In case the buyer come to know about the fact at the
time of entering into the contract then he loses the chance to entitle any
claim.
- Implied warranty to disclose Dangerous nature of the goods sold
If someone sold the goods which can be inherently dangerous or likely to be
dangerous and the buyer of the goods is unaware about it, then it will be
consider as the breach of warranty and seller will held liable. At the first
place is the duty of seller to inform the buyer about the danger in any
circumstances.
Example- X purchases a horse from Y and the horse is lunatic then it's the
duty of Y to inform the X about the danger and whole scenario. While riding,
the horse gt an attack because of which X fell down and got fracture. in the Y
is entitle to claim damages to Y.
Difference Between Condition And Warranty:
Conditions |
Warranties |
In this the stipulation can be consider as
the basis of contract |
In this the stipulations is additional to
the main contracts |
If the condition get breach then it leads to
termination of contracts |
If the warranty got breach then the injured
party will et the compensation only |
If the buyer get agree so the condition can
be treated as warranty |
Warranty cannot be treated as condition |
The injured party can refuse to accept the
goods as well as claim damage in case of breach of condition |
Only damages can be claimed by injured party
in case of breach of warranty |
When does Condition sink to the level of Warranty?
The section 13 with the breach of condition sinks to the level of breach of
warranty. here we will discuss some points:
- When the condition is waived by the buyer, then the condition will be
considers
as warranty
- When the condition would sink to he level of warranty then the buyer
himself treat the breach of condition as a breach of warranty.
- Wherein the contract is indivisible and the buyer has accepted the whole
or part of goods, the condition is treated as a warranty. Consequently, the
contract cannot be repudiated.
However, the damages can be claimed
Rule Of Caveat Emptor
Statement of caveat emptor:
with reference to section 16 of sale of goods act
1930 states that when any goods supplied then there is no implied condition or
warranty as to the quality or fitness of that good which is supplied.
In a case of
Court of Appeal Wallis v. Russel (1902) 2 IR 585, it is laid down
that caveat emptor also implies that 'the buyer must also take care of goods. This applies on the purchase of the things which buyer can exercise on his own
skill and judgment eg. Book, picture etc(also known as specific goods ), it
also applies in the cases where by usage or by a term of contract it is implied
that the buyer shall not rely on the skill and judgment of the seller.
Exceptions to The Rule of Caveat emptor (Section 16 of The Sale of Goods Act,
1930)
- When the buyer put the concern in the mind of the seller and gives the
reason to buy the goods and relies on the skills of seller and the goods
comes under the course of sellers business, then it becomes the duty of the
seller to deliver the reasonable and fit goods to buyer.
- When seller sold the goods by using sample and if the sample goods does
matches with the actual goods
- When goods sold with the help of both description and sample and goods
match with sample but not with description
- When seller sold the good by fraud or miss representation to buyer
Conclusion
In this article we have seen different aspects related to the conditions and
warranties in respect to their necessity, significance and related provisions in
law etc. In the contract of sale of goods the seller makes some representation
or statements or makes certain claims about the product which he intends to sale
to buyer, that representation or statement is known as stipulation. that
stipulation in the contract of sale can be term as condition or warrant.
The term condition is a stipulation on which whole contract is based. it is the
essential ingredient to the purpose of contract. when there is any breach of
condition then it will be considered as breach contract. In this situation
buyer will get the right to repudiate the contract and can claim the damages.
The term warranty is a stipulation collateral to the main purpose of the
contracts. in case of breach of warranty the buyer have write to claim but he
cannot repudiate whole contract. One can consider the breach of condition as
breach of warranty but breach of warranty cannot be considered as breach of
condition.
We also see that there are two types of condition and warranties ie implies and
expressed. The expressed condition and warranties consist of the statements or
warranties or conditions which are expressly agreed by both the parties at the
time of contract. where as implied conditions and warranties are those which
are implied by the law itself, unless otherwise agreed upon by the parties. Cavite
emptor is also an important concept which tell us that let the buyer be aware. it also have certain restrictions in contract of sale of goods.
The main aim of the provision of conditions and warranty provided in Sale of
Goods Act is to protect the buyer from any type of fraud by the seller. At first
place it is the duty of seller not to provide defective product and buyer should
enquire about the quality of product before entering into contract. In order to
make valid contract of purchase and selling without any harm to anyone buyer
should convey the purpose of buying and seller should also give reasonable
description of the product.
References:
- Conditions and warranties. In sale of goods (pp. 16-27)
- Lord, R. A. (1980). Some thoughts about warranty law: express and
implied warranties
- Jain, s. (2015). Contracts of sale: terms, conditions and warranties
with specialreference to sale of goods act harma,
V. (n.d.).
- Implied conditions and warranties under the sale of goods Act1930 with
reference to the rule of caveatLegal service india
- Pandey, A. (2018). Implied conditions and warranties under the sale of
goods Act.
Websites:
- http://egyankosh.ac.in/bitstream/123456789/13421/1/Unit-17.pdf
- https://www.amu.ac.in/emp/studym/99997413.pdf
- https://www.academia.edu/43179686/Conditions_and_warranties_in_Sale_of_Goods_Act_1930
- https://www.amu.ac.in/emp/studym/99997413.pdf
- https://blog.ipleaders.in/implied-conditions-and-warranties-under-the-sale-of-goods-act/
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