By Emmanuel A. Bassey and Opeyemi Ojebode
An Overview of the Liabilities Arising from Contracts for the Sale of Goods (1)
- Introduction
In a contract of sale of goods, various incidents arise, especially in the 21st century where the sale of goods has moved from a physical location to various online spaces, including social media. In most of these online markets, especially those on social media, the vendors and the purchasers hardly have written contracts, which makes it difficult to clearly ascertain their duties and responsibilities when disputes arise.
The most common disputes that arise in these online markets is a situation where goods are ordered but before they are delivered, the goods suffer damage or are lost in transit. Also, there have been instances where the price of goods ordered and paid for doubled or tripled within a very short period before delivery due to the prevailing high inflationary trend in Nigeria. In such situations, some sellers have refused to permit the buyers to take delivery of the goods and insisted on the buyers paying the prevailing higher price for the goods even where there was a clear agreement that the buyer would take delivery on a certain date in the future.
In the first situation where goods are lost or damaged in transit, in the absence of express agreement by the parties, who bears liability for the loss or damage? In the second situation can a seller insist on the current market price of goods in his possession where the buyer has made a full payment before the increase in the price of the goods? If not, what remedy does the buyer have?
This article will seek to interrogate these questions and provide the position of the law in Nigeria on the issues.
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