Sale of Goods Act Section 8 — Goods perishing before sale but after agreement to sell

CHAPTER II FORMATION OF THE CONTRACT — Subject-matter of contract

Commercial / Corporate

Summary

This section deals with a situation where specific goods are agreed to be sold, but before the sale is completed, the goods are destroyed or damaged so badly that they no longer match what was described in the agreement. For this rule to apply, the destruction or damage must happen without any fault of either the seller or the buyer, and it must occur before the risk of loss has passed to the buyer. In such a case, the agreement to sell is automatically cancelled or avoided.

Official Text

Where there is an agreement to sell specific goods, and subsequently the goods without any fault on the part of the seller or buyer perish or become so damaged as no longer to answer to their description in the agreement before the risk passes to the buyer, the agreement is thereby avoided.