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Section 94: Sections 76 to 123 [Repealed by the Indian Sale of Goods Act, 1930]

Indian Contract Act • Official Statutory Text & Practice Guide

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Act 1872
Section 93 All 266 Sections of Indian Contract Act Section 95

Legal Commentary & Landmark Judgments: Section 94

Historical Section 94 of the Indian Contract Act, 1872 governed the determination of the place of delivery in contracts for the sale of goods where no specific contractual stipulation existed, establishing the statutory presumption that delivery is to be made where the goods are located at the time of sale. Although repealed by Section 65 of the Indian Sale of Goods Act, 1930 (Act 3 of 1930) and codified into Section 36 of that Act, its foundational principles continue to govern mercantile delivery obligations and performance disputes under Section 3 of the 1930 Act read with Section 55 of the Contract Act.

  • Statutory Presumption of Delivery at Goods' Situs: Where the contract contained no express agreement fixing a place of delivery, the seller was under no legal obligation to transport the goods to the buyer; delivery was legally complete when the seller placed the goods at the buyer's disposal at the place where they were located at the time of agreement or manufacture.
  • Constructive Delivery and Merchant Attornment: Where goods were in the custody of a third party at the time of sale, delivery was not legally complete until such third party formally acknowledged or attorned to the buyer that they held the goods on the buyer's behalf, establishing modern commercial attornment jurisprudence.
  • Commercial Allocation of Transit Expenses: Enacted the baseline mercantile rule that expenses of and incidental to putting the goods into a deliverable state must be borne by the seller, whereas expenses of taking custody and transportation fall upon the buyer, absent explicit contractual variation.
Key Landmark Precedents:
  • Grenon v. Lachminarain Augurwalla (1896) ILR 24 Cal 8 (PC): The Privy Council affirmed that under Section 94, in the absence of an express covenant to the contrary, the vendor is only bound to place the goods at the disposal of the purchaser at the place where they are when sold, and the purchaser must tender payment and take delivery at that place.
  • Firm Radhakrishan v. Ludhiana Municipality AIR 1963 SC 1547: The Supreme Court recognized that the statutory principles governing the situs, appropriation, and delivery of movable goods originating in Chapter VII of the Contract Act and transposed into the Sale of Goods Act determine the jurisdictional locus of sale and territorial tax incidence.
Courtroom Practice & Strategic Litigation Guidance:

In commercial litigation involving claims of wrongful rejection or failure to deliver, scrutinize the delivery clause to establish whether the sale was ex-works (FOB/CIF). Where the contract is silent, plead the statutory presumption that delivery was due at the seller's premises, casting the evidentiary burden on the buyer to prove a formal demand and tender of price at that specific location.

Section 93 All 266 Sections of Indian Contract Act Section 95