Difference between sale and Agreement to Sell Condition and Warranty

A jeweller in Zaveri Bazaar agrees on Monday to sell you a gold chain, to be made to your design and ready next Saturday. On Saturday you find it is brass-plated, not gold. Two separate questions arise. Did you own the chain on Monday, when you only had a promise, or does ownership wait until it is made and handed over? And is the brass a mere grievance that earns you compensation, or a defect so serious that you may throw the chain back and cancel the deal? The first is the difference between a sale and an agreement to sell. The second is the difference between a condition and a warranty.

In two minutes

A sale transfers the property in the goods now; an agreement to sell transfers it later or on a condition; and a stipulation is a condition if it goes to the root of the contract (breach allows rejection) and a warranty if it is collateral (breach allows damages only).

The rest of this chapter

The full explanation, the cheat sheet, every previous-year question at every mark weight, the quiz and the answer skeletons are part of Contract – II on LexBlox Semester. Sign in to unlock the subject, or read Module 1 of Legal Language and Writing free.