First National Bank v. Cook Carriage Co.
First National Bank v. Cook Carriage Co.
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the court.
It is impossible to bring our minds to the conclusion that the sale of the rockaway and delivery-wagon by the appellee to J. C. Head & Co. was a conditional sale, and that there was a retention of title by appellee. Those provisions in the contract of sale which counsel for appellee construe to be conditions for passing of title, are merely the terms of the sale. The sale was perfect, complete, and the title to the property was clearly .in J. C. Head & Co. from the date of shipment. Grant that J. C. Head & Co. improperly, or even fraudulently, obtained title, never intending to pay cash at the end of ten days, or to give their note at four months, and still it remains true that there was a sale of the property, by which they obtained title.- It is not open to dispute that such sales are not absolutely void, but are voidable only at the election of the party imposed upon. It follows, irresistibly, that if J. C. Head & Co., the vendees, while in possession of the goods, and in the usual prosecution of their business •as retail dealers in vehicles, and before the carriage company
Reversed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- First National Bank of Greenville v. Cook Carriage Co.
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- 1. Sale. Reservation of title. Agreement to give note. Under an agreement by which the purchaser of personal property is to settle promptly, on receipt of bill of lading, by note or draft payable in four-months, or in cash within ten days, at an agreed discount, there is no reservation of title in the seller, and, although the terms be not complied with, the title passes by delivery, and the seller cannot maintain replevin for the property as against one who has bought from the purchaser. 2. Same. Fraud of buyer. Title. Bona fide purchaser. Although the purchaser improperly, or evén fraudulently, obtained such property, not intending to pay for it, or to execute his note as agreed, one who buys the property from him in the usual course of trade, without notice, and before any steps are taken by the original owner to reclaim it, acquires a perfect title.