Bills of Sale Act


2008 Revised Edition

CAP. 40.04






BILLS OF SALE ACT

Bills of Sale Act CAP. 40.04 Arrangement of Sections





2008 Revised Edition


Page 3



BILLS OF SALE ACT

Arrangement of Sections
Section
1 Short title................................................................................................................ 5
2 Definition of bill of sale......................................................................................... 5
3 Trade Machinery.................................................................................................... 6
4 Bill of sale to have schedule of property ............................................................... 6
5 Bill of sale must be registered................................................................................ 6
6 Seizure of chattels .................................................................................................. 6
7 How registration is to be effected .......................................................................... 7
8 Defeasance or declaration of trust to be registered ................................................ 7
9 Transfer need not registered................................................................................... 7
10 Limit of time for registration ................................................................................. 7

REGISTER TO BE KEPT 7
11 Schedule................................................................................................................. 7
12 Office copies .......................................................................................................... 8
13 Right to search register .......................................................................................... 8
14 Avoidance of certain duplicate bills of sale ........................................................... 8
15 Rectification of register.......................................................................................... 8
16 Satisfaction to be entered in register ...................................................................... 9
17 Fees ........................................................................................................................ 9
18 Order and disposition............................................................................................. 9
19 Bill of sale no protection against claim for taxes................................................... 9
20 Assignments accompanied by delivery need not be registered.............................. 9


SCHEDULE 10

FORM OF REGISTER OF BILLS OF SALE 10

Arrangement of Sections CAP. 40.04 Bills of Sale Act





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Supporting Documents

ENDNOTES 11

Bills of Sale Act CAP. 40.04 Section 1





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BILLS OF SALE ACT

AN ACT TO PROVIDE FOR THE REGISTRATION OF BILLS OF SALE1

Commencement [1st August 1897]

1 Short title
This Act may be cited as the Bills of Sale Act.

2 Definition of bill of sale
In this Act the term “bill of sale” includes —

(i) bill of sale, assignment, transfer, declaration of trust without transfer,
inventory of goods with receipt thereto attached, receipt for purchase-
money of goods, and other assurance of personal chattels;

(ii) power of attorney, and authority or licence to take possession of
personal chattels as security for any debt;

(iii) any agreement (including debentures of a joint stock company) whether
intended or not to be followed by the execution of any other instrument
by which a right in equity to any personal chattels or to any charge or
security thereon shall be conferred;

(iv) every attornment, instrument, or agreement, whereby a power of
distress 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 such debt or advance or
otherwise for the purpose of such security only; but this is not to extend
to a mortgage of real estate which a mortgagee in possession has leased
to the mortgagor at a fair and reasonable rent.

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3 Trade Machinery
“Chattels personal” shall include machinery used in or attached to any factory or
workshop exclusive of fixed motive powers such as water-wheels, steam-engines,
steam-boilers, donkey-engines and other fixed appurtenances of the said motive
powers, and exclusive of fixed power machinery such as shafts, wheels, or drums
and their fixed appurtenances, which transmit the action of the motive powers, and
exclusive of pipes for steam, gas and water in the factory or workshop.

4 Bill of sale to have schedule of property
Every bill of sale given as security for money must have annexed to it, or written on
it, a schedule containing an inventory of the personal chattels specifically described
in the said schedule; and shall be void, except as against the grantor, in respect of
any personal chattels not so specifically described.

5 Bill of sale must be registered
(1) Every bill of sale must be executed in the presence of and attested by at least

one witness, and must be registered in the manner and within the time
hereinafter provided, and must truly set forth the consideration for which it
was granted.

(2) Any bill of sale not complying with the requirements of this section shall be
void in respect of the personal chattels comprised in it.

6 Seizure of chattels
Personal chattels assigned under a bill of sale as security for the payment of money
shall not be liable to be seized or taken possession of by the grantee for any other
than the following causes —

(1) if the grantor shall make default in payment of the sum or sums of money
thereby secured at the time therein provided for the payment or in the
performance of any covenant or agreement contained in the bill of sale and
necessary for maintaining the security;

(2) if the grantor shall become bankrupt or suffer the said goods or any of them to
be distrained for rent, rates, or taxes;

(3) if the grantor shall fraudulently either remove or suffer the said goods, or any
of them, to be removed from the premises;

(4) if the grantor shall, without reasonable excuse, refuse upon demand in writing
by the grantee, to produce his last receipts for rent, rates and taxes;

(5) if execution shall have been levied against the goods of the grantor under any
judgment:

Bills of Sale Act CAP. 40.04 Section 7





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Provided that the grantor may apply to the High Court or Senior Magistrate's Court
and such court, if satisfied that the said cause of seizure no longer exists, may
restrain the grantee, if a person subject to the jurisdiction of such court, from
removing or selling the said chattels, or may make such other order as may seem
just.

7 How registration is to be effected
Registration shall be effected by presenting to the Registrar of the High Court the
bill of sale with every schedule or inventory thereto annexed or therein referred to,
and by filing a true copy, of such bill of sale and of every such schedule or inventory
together with an affidavit stating the time of such bill of sale being made or given,
and of its due execution and attestation and a description of the residence and
occupation of the persons making or giving the same and of every attesting witness
to such bill of sale.

8 Defeasance or declaration of trust to be registered
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, such 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.

9 Transfer need not registered
The transfer or assignment of a registered bill of sale need not be registered.

10 Limit of time for registration
Registration of bills of sale shall be effected within 60 days:

Provided that the High Court may order registration at any time of a bill of sale on
proof by affidavit that it has been presented for registration at the first available
opportunity.

REGISTER TO BE KEPT

11 Schedule
The Registrar of the High Court shall keep a book, (in this Act called “the register”)
for the purposes of this Act and shall, upon the filing of any bill of sale or copy

Section 12 CAP. 40.04 Bills of Sale Act





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under this Act, enter therein in the form set forth in the Schedule or in any other
prescribed form the name, residence, and occupation of the person by whom the bill
was made or given, and also the name of the person or persons to whom or in whose
favour the bill was given and all other particulars required by the said Schedule, and
shall number all such bills registered in each year consecutively, according to the
respective dates of their registration.

12 Office copies
Any person shall be entitled to have an office copy or extract of any registered bill
of sale, and affidavit of execution filed therewith, or copy thereof, and of any
affidavit filed therewith (if any) or registered affidavit of renewal, upon paying for
the same at the like rate as for office copies of judgments of the High Court, and any
copy of a registered bill of sale and affidavit purporting to be an office copy thereof
shall be admitted as prima facie evidence thereof.

13 Right to search register
Any person shall be entitled at all reasonable times to search the register and inspect
every registered bill of sale, upon payment of 25 cents for every copy of a bill of
sale inspected.

14 Avoidance of certain duplicate bills of sale
Where a subsequent bill of sale is executed within or on the expiration of the time
prescribed after execution for the registration of a prior unregistered bill of sale, and
comprises all or any part of the personal chattels comprised in such prior bill of sale,
then, if such 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 such debt, it shall, to the extent for
which it is a security for the same debt, or part thereof, comprised in the prior bill,
be absolutely void, unless it is proved to the satisfaction of the court that the
subsequent bill of sale was bona fide given for the purpose of correcting some
material error in the prior bill of sale, and not for the purpose of evading this Act.

15 Rectification of register
The High Court on being satisfied that the omission to register a bill of sale within
the time prescribed by this Act, or the omission or misstatement of the name,
residence, or occupation of any person was accidental or due to inadvertence, may in
its discretion order such omission or misstatement to be rectified by the insertion in
the register of the true name, residence or occupation, or by extending the time for
such registration on such terms and conditions (if any) as to security, notice by
advertisement or otherwise, or as to any other matter, as the High Court thinks fit to
direct.

Bills of Sale Act CAP. 40.04 Section 16





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16 Satisfaction to be entered in register
The High Court may order a memorandum of satisfaction to be written upon any
registered copy of a bill of sale, upon proof being given that the debt (if any) for
which the bill of sale was made or given has been satisfied or discharged.

17 Fees
There shall be paid and received the following fees —

on filing a bill of sale ................................................................. 25 cents

on filing the affidavit of execution of a bill of sale ................... 25 cents.

18 Order and disposition
(1) Chattels comprised in a bill of sale which has been duly registered under this

Act not being security for the payment of money shall not be deemed to be in
the possession, order or disposition of the grantor of the bill of sale within the
meaning of the Bankruptcy Act 1914.

(2) Chattels comprised in a bill of sale which has been duly registered under this
Act, and being security for the payment of money, shall be deemed to be in
the possession, order or disposition of the grantor of the bill of sale within the
meaning of the Bankruptcy Act 1883, but subject to the claim of the grantee.

19 Bill of sale no protection against claim for taxes
A bill of sale to which this Act applies shall be no protection in respect of personal
chattels included in such bill of sale which but for such bill of sale would have been
liable to be seized in execution under a judgment of the court for any rates or taxes
due to the Government, and the liability of such chattels to any such seizure in
execution shall be deemed to have arisen on the day when any such taxes became
due, unless more than 3 months shall elapse between the day when such taxes
became due and the day on which judgment was given, when the liability of such
chattels to seizure in execution shall be deemed to have arisen 3 months before
judgment was given.

20 Assignments accompanied by delivery need not be registered
Nothing in this Act shall affect an assignment of personal chattels accompanied by a
transfer of the possession of such chattels.



SCHEDULE CAP. 40.04 Bills of Sale Act





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SCHEDULE

(Section 11)

FORM OF REGISTER OF BILLS OF SALE

Satisfaction
entered

No. By whom given (or against
whom process issued)

To
whom
given

Nature of
Instrument

Date Date of
Registration

Name Residence Occupation











Bills of Sale Act CAP. 40.04 ENDNOTES





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ENDNOTES


1 1990 Revised Edition, Cap. 57 – Acts 6 of 1897, 12 of 1915, 2 of 1969, 9 of 1971, 3 of 1972