‘Goods’ under Sale of Goods Act

[Parvesh Mourya]

Under Section 2(7) of The Sales of Goods Act, 1930 Goods are defined as every kind of moveable property other than actionable claims and money; and includes stock and shares, growing crops, grass, and things attached to or forming part of the land which are agreed to be severed before sale or under the contract of sale. Ques: Can Lottery Ticket be considered as a ‘Good’ even if it does not have the equal value of the consideration to form as a Contract?

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[Intern]

To answer this question two things, have to be kept in mind, i.e Moveable
Property and Actionable Claims as mentioned in the definition of Goods in section 2(7) of
The Sales of Goods Act,1930.
An “actionable claim” is not defined anywhere in this act but in The Transfer of Properties
Act, 1882, which states that it is a claim to any debt, other than a debt secured by mortgage of
immovable property or by hypothecation or pledge of movable property, or to any beneficial
interest in movable property not in the possession, either actual or constructive, of the
claimant, which the Civil Courts recognize as affording grounds for relief, whether such debt
or beneficial interest is existent, accruing, conditional, or contingent.
There can be no doubt that the purchaser would have a claim to
a conditional interest in the prize money on purchasing a lottery ticket, which is not in the purchaser’s possession. The right
would fall within the definition of an actionable claim and would therefore be excluded from
the definition of goods under the Sale of Goods Act. Thus, lottery tickets are not goods.
The same was held by The Supreme Court in the judgment Sunrise Associates v.
Government of NCT of Delhi, 2006.

[Author]

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