CAP. 246 BILLS OF SALE ACT BELIZE
BILLS OF SALE ACT
CHAPTER 246
REVISED EDITION 2000
SHOWING THE LAW AS AT 31ST DECEMBER, 2000
This is a revised edition of the law, prepared by the Law Revision Commissioner
under the authority of the Law Revision Act, Chapter 3 of the Laws of Belize,
Revised Edition 1980 - 1990.
This edition contains a consolidation of the following laws- Page
ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS 3
BILLS OF SALE ACT 5
Amendments in force as at 31st December, 2000.
BELIZE
BILLS OF SALE ACT
CHAPTER 246
REVISED EDITION 2000
SHOWING THE LAW AS AT 31ST DECEMBER, 2000
This is a revised edition of the law, prepared by the Law Revision Commissioner
under the authority of the Law Revision Act, Chapter 3 of the Laws of Belize,
Revised Edition 1980 - 1990.
This edition contains a consolidation of the following laws- Page
ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS 3
BILLS OF SALE ACT 5
Amendments in force as at 31st December, 2000.
THE SUBSTANTIVE LAWS OF BELIZE REVISED EDITION 2000
Printed by the Government Printer,
No. 1 Power Lane,
Belmopan, by the authority of
the Government of Belize.
Bills of Sale [CAP. 246
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3
CHAPTER 246
BILLS OF SALE
ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS
PART I
Preliminary
1. Short title.
2. Interpretation.
PART II
Bills of Sale Generally
3. Application of Act to trade machinery.
4. Certain instruments giving powers of distress or levy to be subject
to this Act.
5. Fixtures or growing crops not to be deemed separately assigned when
the land passes by the same instrument.
6. Execution, attestation and registration of bills of sale.
7. Bill of sale subject to defeasance, etc., and priority of.
8. Avoidance of certain duplicate bills of sale.
9. Renewal of registration.
10. Form of register.
11. Rectification of register.
12. Memorandum of satisfaction.
13. Copies of searches.
14. Affidavits.
15. Fees.
16. Rules.
17. Time for registration.
18. Bill of sale of realty prior to 1857.
PART III
Bills of Sale Given as Security for the Payment of Money
19. Application of provisions of this Part.
20. Schedule to bill of sale.
21. Bill of sale not to affect after-acquired property.
22. Exception as to certain things.
23. Bill of sale with power to seize, except in certain events, to be void.
24. Bill of sale to be void unless attested and registered.
25. Form of bill of sale.
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26. Bill of sale under $150 to be void.
27. Chattels not to be removed or sold.
28. Bill of sale not to protect chattels against execution.
FIRST SCHEDULE
SECOND SCHEDULE
THIRD SCHEDULE
CHAPTER 246
BILLS OF SALE
[1st January, 1883]
PART I
Preliminary
1. This Act may be cited as the Bills of Sale Act.
2.-(1) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires:-
“bill of sale” includes bills of sale, assignments, transfers, declarations of trust
without transfers, inventories of goods with receipt thereto attached, or receipts
for purchase moneys of goods, and other assurances of personal chattels, and
also powers of attorney, authorities or licences to take possession of personal
chattels as security for any debt, and also any agreement whether intended or
not to be followed by the execution of any other instrument, by which a right in
Ch. 210, R. L. 1958. CAP. 203, R. E. 1980-1990.
Short title.
Interpretation.
equity to any personal chattels, or to any charge or security thereon, is conferred,
but does not include the following documents-
(a) assignments for the benefit of the creditors of the person making
or giving them, marriage settlements, transfers or assignments
of any ship or vessel or any share thereof, transfers of goods
in the ordinary course of business of any trade or calling, bills
of sale of goods in foreign parts or at sea, bills of lading, India
warrants, warehouse-keepers’ certificates, warrants or orders
for the delivery of goods, or any other documents used in the
ordinary course of business as proof of the possession or
control of goods, or authorising or purporting to authorise,
either by endorsement or by delivery, the possessor of such
document to transfer or receive goods thereby represented;
or
(b) an instrument charging or creating any security on, or declaring
trusts of, imported goods, given or executed at any time prior
to their deposit in a warehouse, factory or store, or to their
being re-shipped for export, or delivered to a purchaser not
being the person giving or executing that instrument;
“personal chattels” means goods, furniture and other articles capable of
complete transfer by delivery, and, when separately assigned or charged, fixtures
and growing crops, but does not include-
(a) chattel interests in real estate;
(b) fixtures, except trade machinery as hereinafter defined, when
assigned together with a freehold or leasehold interest in any
land or building to which they are affixed;
(c) growing crops when assigned together with any interest in the
land on which they grow;
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(d) shares or interests in the stock, funds or securities of any
government, or in the capital or property of incorporated or
joint stock companies;
(e) choses in action;
(f) any stock or produce upon any farm or lands which, by virtue
of any covenant or agreement or of the custom of the country,
ought not to be removed from any farm where they are at the
time of making or giving of the bill of sale.
(2) Nothing in subsection (1) (b) shall affect the operation of section 40 of
the Bankruptcy Act in respect of goods comprised in any instrument in this
section described if those goods would otherwise be “goods” within the meaning
of subsection (2) (c) of that section.
(3) Personal chattels shall be deemed to be in the “apparent possession”
of the person making or giving a bill of sale, so long as they remain or are in or
upon any house, mill, warehouse, building, works, yard, land or other premises
occupied by him, or are used and enjoyed by him in any place whatever,
notwithstanding that formal possession thereof has been taken by or given to
any other person.
PART II
Bills of Sale Generally
3.-(1) For the purposes of this Act, “trade machinery” shall be deemed to be
personal chattels, and any mode of disposition of trade machinery by the owner
thereof which would be a bill of sale as to any other personal chattels shall be
deemed to be a bill of sale within the meaning of this Act.
(2) For the purposes of this Act-
Application of Act to trade machinery.
CAP. 244.
(a) “trade machinery” means the machinery used in or attached
to any factory or workshop, exclusive of-
(i) the fixed motive-powers, such as their water-wheels,
steam engines and their steam-boilers, donkey engines
and other fixed appurtenances; and
(ii) the fixed power machinery, such as the shafts, wheels,
drums and their fixed appurtenances, which transmit
the action of the motive-powers to the other machinery,
fixed and loose; and
(iii) the pipes for steam, gas and water, and wires and
cables for transmitting electricity in the factory or
workshop;
(b) “factory or workshop” means any premises on which any
manual labour is exercised by way of trade, or for purposes
of gain, in or incidental to the making of any article or part of
an article, or the altering, repairing, ornamenting or finishing of
any article, or the adapting for sale of any article.
(3) The machinery or effects excluded by subsection (2) from the definition
of “trade machinery” shall not be deemed to be personal chattels within the
meaning of this Act.
4. Every attornment, instrument or agreement, not being a mining lease,
whereby a power of distress or levy is given or agreed to be given by any
person to any other person by way of security for any present, future or
contingent debt or advance, and whereby any rent is reserved or made payable
as a mode of providing for the payment of interest on that debt or advance, or
otherwise for the purpose of the security only, shall be deemed to be a bill of
sale within the meaning of this Act of any personal chattels which may be
seized or taken under the power of distress or levy.
Certain instruments giving powers of distress or levy to be subject to this Act.
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Belmopan, by the authority of
the Government of Belize.
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5.-(1) No fixtures or growing crops shall be deemed under this Act to be
separately assigned or charged by reason only that they are assigned by separate
words, or that power is given to sever them from the land or building to which
they are affixed, or from the land on which they grow, without otherwise taking
possession of or dealing with the land or building, or land, if by the same instrument
any freehold or leasehold interest in the land or building to which those fixtures
are affixed, or in the land on which those crops grow, is also conveyed or
assigned to the same persons.
(2) The same rule of construction shall be applied to all deeds or instruments,
including fixtures or growing crops, executed before the commencement of this
Act and then subsisting and in force, in all questions arising under any bankruptcy,
liquidation, assignment for the benefit of creditors or execution of any process
of a court, which takes place or is issued after the commencement of this Act.
6.-(1) A bill of sale shall be executed, attested and registered in the manner
required by this Act.
(2) The bill of sale shall be signed by the grantor and attested by two credible
witnesses who are not parties thereto, or by an attorney or a commissioner for
oaths to affidavits, and the attestation shall state that before the execution of the
bill of sale the effect thereof was explained to the grantor by one of the attesting
witnesses, or the attorney or commissioner.
(3) The bill, with every schedule or inventory thereto annexed or therein
referred to, and also a true copy of the bill and of every schedule or inventory,
and of every attestation of the execution of the bill, shall be presented to the
Registrar General within seven clear days after the making or giving of the bill of
sale.
(4) There shall also be presented to the Registrar General at the same time
as the bill of sale is presented an affidavit setting forth-
(a) the date, hour and minute when the bill was made or given;
Execution, attestation and registration of bills of sale.
Fixtures or growing crops not to be deemed separately assigned when the land passes by the same instrument.
(b) the fact of its due execution and attestation;
(c) a description of the residence and occupation of the person
making or giving it;
(d) if it was made or given by anyone under or in the execution of
any process, a description of the residence and occupation of
the person against whom that process was issued; and
(e) a description of every attesting witness to the bill.
(5) The Registrar General shall register the original bill of sale, schedule or
inventory together with the attestation and affidavit in the General Registry,
and shall certify the copy of the bill of sale together with the copy of the schedule
or inventory presented to him and return it to the person who presented the
same.
(6) The Registrar General shall cause notice that the bill of sale has been
registered to be published in the Gazette within fourteen days after its
registration.
(7) A transfer or assignment of a registered bill of sale shall be executed,
attested and registered like a bill of sale, but need not be advertised.
(8) With reference to the execution of a bill of sale, the grantor shall be
deemed to have signed the same if he affixes thereto his actual signature or
mark or something intended by him to be equivalent thereto.
7.-(1) If the bill of sale is made or given subject to any defeasance or condition,
or declaration of trust, not contained in the body thereof, that defeasance,
condition or declaration shall be deemed to be part of the bill, and shall be
written on the same paper or parchment therewith before the registration, and
shall be truly set forth in the copy filed under this Act therewith and as part
thereof, otherwise the registration shall be void.
Bill of sale subject to defeasance, etc., and priority of.
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(2) If two or more bills of sale are given, comprising in whole or in part any
of the same chattels, they shall have priority in the order of the date of their
registration respectively as regards those chattels.
8. Where a subsequent bill of sale is executed within or on the expiration of
twenty-one days after the execution of a prior unregistered bill of sale, and
comprises all or any part of the personal chattels comprised in the prior bill of
sale, then, if the subsequent bill of sale is given as a security for the same debt as
is secured by the prior bill of sale, or for any part of that debt, it shall, to the
extent of which it is a security for the same debt or part thereof, and so far as
respects the personal chattels or part thereof comprised in the prior bill, be
absolutely void, unless it is proved to the satisfaction of the court having
cognisance of the case that the subsequent bill of sale was given in good faith
for the purpose of correcting some material error in the prior bill of sale, and not
for the purpose of evading this Act
9.-(1) The registration of a bill of sale must be renewed once in every five
years, and if a period of more than five years elapses from the registration or
renewed registration of a bill of sale without a renewal or further renewal, as the
case may be, the registration shall be void.
(2) The renewal of a registration shall be effected by filing with the Registrar
General an affidavit stating the date of the bill of sale and of the last registration
thereof, and the names, residences and occupations of the parties thereto as
stated therein, and that the bill of sale is still a subsisting security. The affidavit
may be in the form set out in the First Schedule.
(3) A renewal of registration shall not become necessary by reason only of
a transfer or assignment of the bill of sale.
10.-(1) The Registrar General shall keep a book for the purposes of this Act
and shall, upon the presentation of a bill of sale under this Act, enter therein in
the form set out in the Second Schedule or in any other prescribed form-
Avoidance of certain duplicate bills of sale.
Renewal of registration.
Form of register.
Second Schedule.
First Schedule.
(a) the name, residence and occupation of the person by whom
the bill was made or given;
(b) in case it was made or given by any person under or in the
execution of process, the name, residence and occupation of
the person against whom that process was issued;
(c) the name of the person or persons to whom or in whose favour
the bill was given; and
(d) the other particulars shown in Form 2 or to be prescribed
under this Act,
and shall number all bills registered in each year consecutively, according to
the respective dates of their registration.
(2) Upon the filing of an affidavit of renewal, the like entry shall be made,
with the addition of the date, and number of the last previous entry relating to
the same, and the bill of sale registered shall be thereupon marked with the
number affixed to the affidavit of renewal.
(3) The Registrar General shall also keep an index of the names of the
grantors of registered bills of sale with reference to entries in the register given
by each of those grantors. The index shall be arranged in divisions
corresponding with the letters of the alphabet, so that all grantors whose
surnames begin with the same letter, and no others, shall be comprised in one
division, but the arrangement within each division need not be strictly
alphabetical.
11. A judge, on being satisfied that the omission to register a bill of sale, or an
affidavit of renewal thereof, within the time prescribed by this Act, or the
omission of mis-statement of the name, residence or occupation of any person,
was accidental or due to inadvertence, may in his discretion order the omission
or mis-statement to be rectified by the insertion in the register of the true name,
Rectification of register.
Form 2.
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residence or occupation, or by extending the time for registration on such terms
and conditions, if any, as to security, notice by advertisement or otherwise, or
as to any other matter, as he thinks fit to direct.
12. Subject to and in accordance with rules to be made under and for the
purposes of this Act, the Registrar General may order a memorandum of
satisfaction to be written upon any registered copy of a bill of sale, upon the
prescribed evidence being given that the debt, if any, for which that bill of sale
was made or given has been satisfied or discharged.
13.-(1) Any copy of a registered bill of sale and affidavit purporting to be an
office copy thereof, shall in all courts and before all arbitrators or other persons,
be admitted as prima facie evidence thereof, and of the fact and date of
registration as shown thereon.
(2) Any person shall be entitled at all reasonable times to search the register,
on payment of a fee of one dollar, subject to such regulations as may be
prescribed, and shall be entitled at all reasonable times to inspect, examine and
make extracts from, any and every registered bill of sale, without being required
to make a written application, or to specify any particulars in reference thereto,
upon payment of one dollar for each bill of sale inspected:
Provided that those extracts shall be limited to the dates of execution,
registration, renewal of registration, and satisfaction, to the names, addresses
and occupations of the parties, to the amount of the consideration, and to any
further prescribed particulars.
14. Every affidavit required by or for the purposes of this Act may be sworn
before any person empowered to take affidavits in the Supreme Court.
15. The Minister may by regulations provide for fees to be taken by the
Registrar General.
16. Rules for the purposes of this Act may be made by the like persons and in
Memorandum of satisfaction.
Copies and searches.
Affidavits.
Fees.
Rules.
the like manner in which rules may be made under the Supreme Court of
Judicature Act.
17. When the time for registering a bill of sale expires on a Sunday, or other
day on which the Registrar General’s office is closed, the registration shall be
valid if made on the next following day on which the office is open.
18. Any person may, notwithstanding anything contained in this Act or any
other Act to the contrary, trace his title from or through any bill of sale of real
property if made prior to the 18th February, 1857, according to any form then
ordinarily in use for the conveyance or transfer of real property, and no
objection that the conveyance ought to have been by deed shall be allowed:
Provided that the bill of sale, when so required by law, has been recorded.
PART III
Bills of Sale Given as Security for the Payment of Money
19. This Part shall not apply to bills of sale as in this Act defined which are
made or given otherwise than by way of security for the payment of money.
20. Every bill of sale shall have annexed thereto or written thereon a schedule
containing an inventory of the personal chattels comprised in the bill of sale,
and the bill of sale, except as hereinafter mentioned, shall have effect only in
respect of the personal chattels specifically described in that schedule, and
shall be void, except as against the grantor, in respect of any personal chattels
not so specifically described.
21. Except as hereinafter mentioned, a bill of sale shall be void, except as
against the grantor, in respect of any personal chattels specifically described in
the schedule thereto of which the grantor was not the true owner at the time of
the execution of the bill of sale.
Time for registration.
Bill of sale of realty prior to 1857.
CAP. 96.
Application of provisions of this Part.
Schedule to bill of sale.
Bill of sale not to affect after- acquired property.
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22. Nothing contained in the foregoing sections of this Act shall render a bill of
sale void in respect of any of the following things-
(a) any growing crops separately assigned or charged where they
were actually growing at the time when the bill of sale was
executed;
(b) any fixtures separately assigned or charged, and any plant or
trade machinery, when used in, attached to, or brought upon,
any land, farm, factory, workshop, shop, house, warehouse or
other place, in substitution for any of the like fixtures, plant or
trade machinery specifically described in the schedule to the
bill of sale.
23.-(1) Personal chattels assigned under a bill of sale shall not be liable to be
seized or taken into possession by the grantee for any other than the following
causes, namely, if the grantor-
(a) makes default in payment of the sum or sums of money thereby
secured at the time therein provided for payment, or in the
performance of any covenant or agreement contained in the bill
of sale necessary for maintaining the security; or
(b) becomes bankrupt or suffers the goods or any of them to be
distrained for rent, rates or taxes; or
(c) fraudulently either removes the goods, or suffers them or any
of them to be removed, from the premises; or
(d) does not, without reasonable excuse upon demand in writing
by the grantee, produce to him his last receipts for rent, rates
and taxes; or
(e) has had execution levied against his goods under any judgment
Bill of sale with power to seize, except in certain events, to be void.
Exception as to certain things.
at law.
(2) The grantor may within five days from the seizure or taking possession
of any chattels on account of any of the causes specified in subsection (1),
apply to the Supreme Court, or to a judge thereof in chambers, and the court
or judge, if satisfied that by payment of money or otherwise the cause of
seizure no longer exists, may restrain the grantee from removing or selling the
chattels, or may make any order that seems just.
24. Every bill of sale to which this Part applies shall be duly attested as in
section 6 and shall be registered and advertised as provided in that section
within seven clear days after the execution thereof or, if it is executed in any
place out of Belize, then within seven clear days after the time at which it
would in the ordinary course of post arrive in Belize if posted immediately
after the execution thereof, and shall truly set forth the consideration for which
it was given, otherwise the bill of sale shall be void in respect of the personal
chattels comprised therein.
25. A bill of sale made or given by way of security for the payment of money
by the grantor thereof shall be void unless made in accordance with the Form
in the Third Schedule.
26. Every bill of sale made or given in consideration of any sum under one
hundred and fifty dollars shall be void.
27. All personal chattels seized or of which possession is taken under or by
virtue of a bill of sale shall remain on the premises where they were so seized
or so taken possession of, and shall not be removed or sold until after the
expiration of five clear days from the day they were so seized or so taken
possession of.
28. A bill of sale to which this Act applies shall be no protection in respect of
personal chattels included therein which but for that bill of sale would have
been liable under execution for the recovery of taxes or rates.
Bill of sale to be void unless attested and registered.
Form of bill of sale.
Bill of sale under $150 to be void.
Chattels not be removed or sold.
Bill of sale not to protect chattels against execution.
Third Schedule.
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FIRST SCHEDULE
[Section 9]
Affidavit for Renewal of Registration
I, (A. B.,) , of ,
do
swear that a bill of sale, bearing the date the day
of , 19 /20* , (insert the date of the bill),
and made between (insert the names and descriptions of the parties in the original
bill of sale), and which said bill of sale (or) and a copy of which said bill of sale, (as
the case may be) was registered on the
day of , 19 /20* (insert date of registration), is
still a subsisting security.
SWORN, etc.
*Delete the inapplicable.
SECOND SCHEDULE
[Section 10]
Register
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By whom given (or against whom process issued)
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THIRD SCHEDULE
Form of Bill of Sale
[Section 25]
Form of Bill of Sale given as Security for the Payment of Money
THIS INDENTURE made the day of ,20 ,
between A. B., of , the one part, and C. D.,
of , of the other part, witnesseth that in con-
sideration of the sum of $ now paid to A. B by D.C., the receipt
of which the said A. B. hereby acknowledges (or whatever else the
consideration may be), he the said A. B. doth hereby assign unto C. D., his
executors, administrators and assigns, all and singular the several chattels and
things specifically described in the schedule hereto annexed by way of security
for the payment of the sum of $ and interest thereon at the rate of
per centum per annum (or whatever else may be the rate). And the said
A. B. doth further agree and declare that he will duly pay to the said C. D. the
principal sum aforesaid, together with the interest then due, by equal payments
of $ on the day of
(or whatever else may be the stipulated times or time of payment). And
the said A. B. doth also agree with the said C. D. that he will (here insert
terms as to insurance, payment of rent, or otherwise which the parties
may agree to for the maintenance or defeasance of the security) :
Provided that the chattels hereby assigned shall not be liable to seizure or to
be taken possession of by the said C. D. for any cause other than those specified
in section 23 of the Bills of Sale Act.
IN WITNESS, etc.
SIGNED by the said A. B. in the presence of us E. F. and G. H. (add
witnesses’ names, addresses and description).
CAP. 246.
