New South Wales Consolidated Acts

SALE OF GOODS ACT 1923 - SECT 25A

25A Contracts of sale for goods forming part of bulk quantity

(cf Sale of Goods Act 1979 of the United Kingdom, sections 20A and 20B)

(1) This section applies to a contract of sale for a specified quantity of unascertained goods of which some or all form part of a single bulk quantity of goods of the same kind (
"the bulk" ) if:

(a) the bulk is identified, either in the contract or by subsequent agreement between the parties, and

(b) the buyer has paid for some or all of the goods that form part of the bulk.

(2) Unless the parties agree otherwise:

(a) property in an undivided share in the bulk is transferred to the buyer, and

(b) the buyer becomes an owner in common of the bulk,

as soon as both of the conditions referred to in subsection (1) have been met.

(3) The buyer's undivided share in the bulk at any time is such share as, at that time, is equivalent to the quantity of goods paid for and due to the buyer out of the bulk divided by the quantity of goods in the bulk.

(4) If at any time the aggregate of all buyers' undivided shares in the bulk exceeds the whole of the bulk, those shares are to be reduced proportionately so that their aggregate is equal to the bulk.

(5) If a buyer has paid for some only of the goods due to the buyer out of the bulk, any delivery to the buyer out of the bulk is to be attributed to the goods for which payment has been made.

(6) Part payment for any goods is taken to be payment for a corresponding part of the goods.

(7) A person who becomes an owner in common of the bulk is taken to consent to:

(a) any delivery of goods out of the bulk to any other owner in common of the bulk, being goods that are due to that other owner under a contract to which this section applies, and

(b) any dealing with, or removal, delivery or disposal of, goods in the bulk by any other owner in common of the bulk, but only to the extent of that other owner's undivided share in the bulk.

(8) No cause of action lies against any person by reason of that person's having acted in accordance with subsection (7) (a) or (b) in reliance on the consent that exists by virtue of that subsection.

(9) Nothing in this section:

(a) imposes an obligation on a buyer of goods out of the bulk to compensate any other buyer of goods out of the bulk for any shortfall in the quantity of goods received by that other buyer, or

(b) affects any contract or other arrangement between buyers of goods out of the bulk for adjustments between themselves, or

(c) affects the rights of any buyer under a contract to which this section applies.

(10) This section does not apply to a contract of sale entered into before the commencement of the Sale of Goods and Warehousemen's Liens Amendment (Bulk Goods) Act 2006 .