Bill of sale

Bill of sale

A bill of sale is a legal document made by a 'seller' to a "purchaser", reporting that on a specific date, at a specific locality, and for a particular sum of money or other "value received", the seller sold to the purchaser a specific item of personal, or parcel of real, property of which he had lawful possession. It is a written instrument which evidences the transfer of title to personal property from the vendor, seller, to the vendee, buyer. [Citation | url = http://www.realestatewords.com/byword/real_estate_words_definition_Bill_of_sale.htm]

It may take the form of something like the following:

:"For the sum of five hundred clams (C.500,-) I hereby convey to Joe Blow full ownership of a beige Acme whatchamahoozit, serial number DH500-1234567. (Signed) John Doe"

Historical origin

The term “bill of sale” originally referred to any writing by which an absolute disposition of personality for value was effected or evidenced. A common feature of such dispositions is that the owner mortgagor remains in possession and exercises all the attendant rights of ownership, which may be so overwhelming as to induce a third party to accept the same chattel as a security for a grant, albeit without notice of the first mortgagee. This scenario made the bill of sale a veritable tool of fraud.

The evolution of various bills of sale laws was to curb the use of the bill of sale as a means of defrauding innocent persons. The first of such being the Bills of Sale Act, 1854 which was repealed and re-enacted by the Bills of Sale Act 1878 which was almost on all fours with the 1854 Act. Further developments led to the enactment of the Bills of Sale Act 1882.

A bill of sale has been defined as a legal document made by the seller to a purchaser, reporting that on a specific date at a specific locality and for a particular sum of money or other value received, the seller sold to the purchaser a specific item of personal property, or parcel of real property of which he had lawful possession . The Black’s Law Dictionary on its part defines a bill of sale as “an instrument for the conveyance of title to personal property, absolutely or by way of security”. According to Omotola the bill of sale is “a form of legal mortgage of chattels”. Bullen and Leake and Jacobs define a bill of sale as “a document transferring a proprietary interest in personal chattels from one individual (the “grantor”) to another (the “grantee”), without possession being delivered to the grantee”.

In essence, a bill of sale is a written instrument showing the voluntary transfer of a right or interest or title to personal property, either by way of security or absolutely, from one person to another without the actual physical possession of the property leaving the owner and being delivered to the other party. It is clear from the definitions above that the bills of sale are essentially of two types: The absolute bill of sale and the conditional bill of sale. [Citation | url = http://www.documatica-forms.com/usa/bill-of-sale/more-info.php]

The absolute bill of sale

Absolute bills of sale, which do not represent any form of security whatsoever, are simply documents evidencing assignments, transfers and other assurances of personal chattels, which are substantially no more than mere contracts of sale of goods covered by the common law of contract and the sale of Goods Law.

The conditional bill of sale

The conditional bill of sale refers to any assignment or transfer of personal chattels to a person by way of security for the payment of money. The conditional bill of sale creates a security in favour of the grantee of the bill whereby the grantee is given personal right of seizure giving right to a security interest of a possessory nature.

It should be noted that there are other forms of security over goods such as a pledge and contractual lien which also only give right to a security interest of a possessory nature.

A good example of a conditional bill of sale is where a creditor gives a loan and has transferred to himself, as collateral or security for the loan, the title of the goods or other personal property of the debtor. The physical goods or other property however remains with the debtor.

References

ee also

* Contract of sale
* Manufacturer’s Certificate of Origin


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Look at other dictionaries:

  • bill of sale — bill of sale: a formal instrument for the conveyance or transfer of title to goods and chattels Merriam Webster’s Dictionary of Law. Merriam Webster. 1996. bill of sale n. A written agreement that tran …   Law dictionary

  • Bill of sale — Bill Bill, n. [OE. bill, bille, fr. LL. billa (or OF. bille), for L. bulla anything rounded, LL., seal, stamp, letter, edict, roll; cf. F. bille a ball, prob. fr. Ger.; cf. MHG. bickel, D. bikkel, dice. Cf. {Bull} papal edict, {Billet} a paper.]… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Bill of sale — Sale Sale, n. [Icel. sala, sal, akin to E. sell. See {Sell}, v. t.] 1. The act of selling; the transfer of property, or a contract to transfer the ownership of property, from one person to another for a valuable consideration, or for a price in… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • bill of sale — (plural ,bills of sale) noun count a written statement describing the sale of something to someone …   Usage of the words and phrases in modern English

  • bill of sale — plural bills of sale n technical a written document showing that someone has bought something …   Dictionary of contemporary English

  • bill of sale — n. a written statement certifying that the ownership of something has been transferred by sale …   English World dictionary

  • Bill of sale — (engl., spr. ßēl), schriftlicher Kaufvertrag, Vertrag über die Verpfändung von Mobilien, die im Gewahrsam des Schuldners belassen werden …   Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon

  • bill of sale — An agreement in writing signifying that one person for a specific sum of money has acquired specific assets. (Dictionary of Canadian Bankruptcy Terms) United Glossary of Bankruptcy Terms 2012 …   Glossary of Bankruptcy

  • bill of sale — bill′ of sale′ n. bus a document transferring title in personal property from seller to buyer • Etymology: 1600–10 …   From formal English to slang

  • bill of sale — noun a deed transferring personal property • Topics: ↑law, ↑jurisprudence • Hypernyms: ↑deed, ↑deed of conveyance, ↑title * * * : a formal instrument for the conveyance or transfer of title to goods and chattels * * * a document transferring… …   Useful english dictionary

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