Sales of Goods by Sea - Essay Example

The law that governs contracts for the sale of goods entrenched in The Sale of Goods Act 1979 plus 1994 amendments. Merchant B is not supposed to pay Merchant B as supported by the argument below’ “The seller had the obligation of advising the buyer of the impending war between the two states once he became aware.” On evaluation of the risks of the goods while on transit on the sea, there is a strong link risk allocation. As the seller is in physical possession of goods prior to selling, he has the obligation of assuming the measures of preventing risks (Bernd 1).

Before the goods left physical possession of the seller to the carrier, he had the responsibility of advising the buyer the probable outcome of the war such that the buyer could have been aware and accepts to assume the risk. The risk of the cargo is passed to the buyer once goods have been delivered.1 Therefore, the seller (Merchant A) having assumed first physical possession of the goods and keeping in mind that the buyer (Merchant B) had not yet assumed any practical possession of the goods leaves the seller at the legal entity responsible for the cargo.

Upon delivery of shipping documents, there is no evidence of goods delivery, thus, Merchant B has not fulfilled his contractual duty to claim meeting his contractual part (Bernd 1). Since the Merchant B had the custody of shipping documents, he is obligated to advice the buyer on any impending risks that may render the goods faulty of not getting to the port of Calais on time (Bernd 1). The reason that goods have not arrived the port of destination does not imply non shipment, but rather, there may be eventualities that the goods have not arrived due to war between France and England.

“It is the obligation of the seller to ascertain the exact state of the goods; whether destroyed of cargo sought refuge at a port in Spain” As per the contract of the case in question, the goods were to be delivered from Dover to Calais. The seller has the obligation of shipping the goods that the answer to the contract (Stone and Carr 39). As stated in section 13 of the Sale of Goods Act 1979,2 that where the contract is for sale of goods by description, the goods ought to correspond to the description.

According to Section 2, sub. 5: Under the contract, the transfer of goods from Merchant A to Merchant B was to take place in the future upon delivery at Calais to fulfill the contract to be regarded as an agreement of sale. The agreement becomes a sale upon meeting conditions subject to which goods are transferred. Whether the ship; or goods on board are safe, is not the responsibility of the buyer but the seller. This clearly implies that the goods if happened to have encountered shipment risks of perils of the sea are liable to be indemnified by relevant insurer (Simone 95).

The seller being well aware of the conditions surrounding the shipment of the goods, has the obligation of following up to ascertain the state of the shipment to ascertain the real situation to ensure terms of contract are met.3 Incorporating the incoterms relating to the contract, a contract of insurance entered into, defines the compensation of goods on transits in case of peril of the sea or any other risk that the cargo may be exposed to.4 For a contract to be termed valid and legally binding it must meet several requirements.

Since the contract between A and B had requirements that the goods had to be