Baltimore & Ohio Southwestern Railway Co. v. Good
Baltimore & Ohio Southwestern Railway Co. v. Good
Opinion of the Court
All the parties to the sale were members of the Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce, the sale was there made and was subject to the following rule of the organization governing purchases of grain:
“Rule 7, Section 1. All purchases of grain, unless otherwise agreed upon, are understood to be for cash and to be paid for on delivery.”
A witness for the plaintiffs testified that the manner of selling grain in carload lots on “change” is as follows: The official grain inspector of the Chamber of Commerce grades the grain in the car in the railroad yards, and delivers a samplé of the uniform grade of the grain in the car to the consignee or owner, who then exhibits the sample on “change” and when he makes a sale he delivers to the purchaser the sample and a delivery order, like that set out in the statement of facts, to the carrier to deliver the car to the purchaser or order, and the purchaser then orders the car to his elevator or switch, or wherever he wishes to unload it, and as it is being unloaded it is weighed by the official weigher, who gives the seller a certificate of the weight and the seller then makes a bill to the buyer at the agreed price, which the buyer pays in cash upon its1 receipt. A
It is undisputed that settlement was to be based upon the certificate of the weigher, and the circuit court based its decision upon the assumption that, as under the rule, sales were cash on delivery and as under the usage the weight was to be ascertained as the car was unloaded, delivery could not be complete until the weight was certified. It is elementary in a sale of specific chattels that neither payment nor delivery is essential to the passing of title. The passing of the title may be conditional on payment, but generally, in such sales the title passes, but delivery and payment are immediate and concurrent acts, and if delivery be made in expectation of immediate payment and such payment is not made, the seller may reclaim the goods. When the goods must be counted, weighed or measured in order to identify them, the property does not pass, but when they are specific and these acts are to be done merely to ascertain the sum to be paid, the title may pass although the goods have not been delivered. The passing of the title depends upon the intention. If delivery has not been made, or if made in order that the price may be ascertained, the presumption is that the property has not passed. If the sale is for cash, or cash on delivery, and delivery is made,
But payment as a condition may be waived by the seller, and if it is the .property vests' in the buyer. All attending circumstances may show that the delivery was not conditional, even when weighing is necessary to ascertain the price, and that the intention was to transfer both the title and possession and to trust the buyer to pay when the price is ascertained. In the present case no presumption of waiver would arise merely from the delivery of the car to the buyer, for by the rule of the Chamber of Commerce the sale was for cash on delivery and the sum to be paid could not be ascertained until the oats were weighed, which by the usage on “change” was- to be done by the official weigher as the car was unloaded, so that delivery would not be complete until the oats were weighed. But if by the usage on “change” the delivery of a delivery order was the delivery of the oats and 80 per cent, of the estimated price was then payable and the balance when the, weight was officially certified, then Good & Company waived payment in cash on delivery when they gave the deliver}^ order without the cash payment, and the 80 per cent, either was payable on demand or credit for the whole price was extended to Bender until the weight was officially certified, and the title of an innocent sub-vendee from Bender would be good against Good & Company. And, independently of the usage, last referred to, when it is considered that the sale was made on “change” b}r one dealer to another dealer and not to a consumer, and that a delivery order was
The transaction, though fraudulent on the part of Bender, was not void, but only voidable. If the delivery without payment was merely a waiver of immediate payment, or an extension of credit, it may be that as between thé vendor and the vendee the vendor could have protected himself, for it is an implied condition in a sale on credit that the buyer shall keep his credit good. Diem v. Koblitz, 49 Ohio St., 41. Good & Company as against Bender might have repudiated the transaction, but they could not do so at the expense of an innocent sub-vendee. “When a vendee obtains possession of a chattel with the intention by the vendor to transfer both the property and possession, although the vendee has committed a false and fraudulent misrepresentation in order to effect the contract or obtain the possession, the property vests in the vendee until the vendor has done some act to disaffirm the transaction; and the legal consequence is that if before the disaffirmance the fraudulent vendee has transferred either the whole or a.partial interest in the chattel to an innocent transferee, the title of such transferee is good against the vendor.” Kingsford v. Merry, 1 H. & N., 503; Pease v. Gloahec, L. R., 1 P. C., 219.
It is true that a delivery order, unlike a bill of
It follows that the correct result was reached
Reversed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.