Sale of Goods Act
Sale by Description under Section 15 of the Sale of Goods Act, 1930: Meaning, Strict Correspondence, Goods Seen by the Buyer, Sale by Sample as Well as Description, and Section 15 Compared with Section 17
Most goods are bought by reference to words: a name, a grade, a model number, a specification, a label. Section 15 implies a condition that the goods delivered will correspond with the description by which they were sold. It is one of the most frequently litigated sections of the Act, partly because the idea of a sale by description is wider than it first appears, and partly because the courts have insisted on strict correspondence: goods that differ from the description are not the goods the buyer agreed to buy, even if they are just as good.
When a sale is by description, what correspondence requires, and how Section 15 relates to Section 17
1. The Section
Section 15, Sale of Goods Act, 1930 Where there is a contract for the sale of goods by description, there is an implied condition that the goods shall correspond with the description; and, if the sale is by sample as well as by description, it is not sufficient that the bulk of the goods corresponds with the sample if the goods do not also correspond with the description. |
2. What Is a Sale by Description?
- Goods the buyer has not seen, bought on the strength of a description alone. This is the classic case, and covers unascertained and future goods, which can only be described.
- Specific goods the buyer has seen, where they are sold as corresponding to a description and the buyer relies on it, at least in part.
- Goods displayed for sale in a shop or online, where the packaging, label or listing describes them, and the buyer selects them by reference to that description.
- The description must be one the buyer relied on. Words that identify the goods, such as their kind, variety, model, origin, age or specification, are part of the description. General praise or statements about quality not relied on for identification may not be.
📖 Varley v. Whipp, [1900] 1 QB 513 Facts: The seller agreed to sell a reaping machine, which the buyer had not seen, describing it as new the previous year and used only to cut fifty or sixty acres. When delivered it turned out to be a very old machine that had been mended. The buyer returned it and refused to pay. Held: The buyer was entitled to reject. Because he had not seen the machine and bought it on the seller's statements, the sale was a sale by description, and the machine did not correspond with the description. The words used were not mere representations but part of the description of the thing sold. Ratio: Where a buyer contracts for specific goods he has not seen, relying on a description, the sale is by description, and goods not corresponding with it may be rejected. |
📖 Beale v. Taylor, [1967] 1 WLR 1193 (CA) Facts: A car was advertised as a white 1961 model of a named type. The buyer inspected it, saw a badge confirming the model on the back, and bought it. It later turned out to be the rear half of the advertised model welded to the front half of an older car, the two halves having been joined. Held: The Court of Appeal held that the sale was by description, although the buyer had seen and examined the car. He had relied on the description in the advertisement and on the badge in choosing it, and the words formed part of what was sold. The car did not correspond, and the seller was liable. Ratio: A sale may be by description even though the buyer has seen the goods, where he relies on words identifying them. Seeing the goods does not by itself take the sale outside Section 15. |
3. Strict Correspondence
The courts have required correspondence to be exact, particularly in commercial sales where the buyer may need goods that meet a precise specification for resale or use. Two leading illustrations are often cited. In Arcos Ltd. v. E. A. Ronaasen & Son, [1933] AC 470, timber staves described as half an inch thick could be rejected where most were slightly thicker, even though they were commercially usable. In Re Moore & Co. and Landauer & Co., [1921] 2 KB 519, tinned fruit described as packed thirty tins to a case could be rejected where many cases held twenty-four, although the total quantity was right and the market value was the same.
- Microscopic deviations that the trade would disregard are ignored, under the principle that the law does not concern itself with trifles.
- Anything more is a breach of condition, whatever its commercial significance, entitling the buyer to reject unless Section 13 confines him to damages.
- The strictness has been criticised as allowing a buyer to escape a bad bargain on a technicality, and it should be applied with attention to what the description really means in the trade.
4. Sale by Sample as Well as by Description
Where goods are sold both by sample and by description, the buyer is entitled to both. It is not enough that the bulk matches the sample, if the goods do not also match the description. The reason is that the sample may itself fail to correspond with the description, and the buyer has bargained for goods of the described kind.
Section 15: description | Section 17: sample | |
|---|---|---|
When it applies | Goods sold by reference to words identifying them | Goods sold by reference to a sample, where the contract so provides |
The implied condition | The goods shall correspond with the description | The bulk shall correspond with the sample in quality |
Additional conditions | None under this section | A reasonable opportunity to compare, and freedom from hidden defects making the goods unmerchantable |
Where both apply | The goods must match the description | And the bulk must match the sample |
5. Description, Quality and Trade Descriptions
- Description is not quality. Goods may correspond with their description and yet be of poor quality, in which case the remedy lies under Section 16, not Section 15.
- Statutory descriptions such as those required under the Legal Metrology Act, 2009, food labelling rules, or standards marks may form part of the description by which goods are sold.
- Misdescription may also be an unfair trade practice under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019, giving the consumer remedies in addition to rejection and damages.
6. The Position Stated Shortly
- Section 15 implies a condition that goods sold by description correspond with it.
- A sale is by description where the buyer relies on words identifying the goods, whether or not he has seen them.
- Varley v. Whipp: a machine the buyer had not seen, bought on a description, could be rejected.
- Beale v. Taylor: a car the buyer had seen was still sold by description.
- Correspondence is strict, subject only to trifling deviations.
- Where the sale is by sample and description, the goods must satisfy both.
- Description is distinct from quality, which Section 16 governs.