9911796707
TMI Blog1958 (11) TMI 18X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ice to National Bank of India Ltd., Madras. The way the contract was performed was for the plaintiff to put the tea in a steamer in the Port of Cochin, take a bill of lading and, in appropriate cases, have the goods insured on the buyers' behalf and prepare an invoice and present the bill of lading, the invoice and the policy of insurance at the branch of the National Bank of India at Madras. The National Bank pays the price subject to discount in the case of a bill of exchange payable after sight and accepts the documents. The documents are then forwarded to the Bank in Dublin, New York, San Francisco or other place in foreign territory, according to the instructions of the particular buyer and are delivered to the buyer. The facts stated ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... nable the plaintiff to prove that title passed not at Madras, where the documents of title were delivered by the plaintiff to the National Bank, but in the foreign country to which the National Bank forwarded the documents of title and where the buyer accepted the documents with a view to take delivery at the appropriate port. I declined to receive evidence to that effect, because I held that the finding that the property in the goods passed to the buyer at Madras is not a finding which is open to reconsideration at this hearing and that consequently evidence intended to prove that the property in the goods passed not at Madras, but in New York, Dublin or other foreign port of consignment, was not admissible. The only point that remains for ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... of the tea, in Madras. Property in the tea passed to the buyer at Madras by delivery of the documents of title to the National Bank at Madras. That finding implies the finding that the National Bank accepted the documents as the buyer's agent. Thereafter, any person to whom the National Bank endorsed the bill of lading became the owner of the goods and the Master of the ship was in possession of the goods on behalf of the buyer. Since carriage by sea was the mode authorised by the contract of sale, the carrier was the person authorised to hold the goods on behalf of the buyer, just as the National Bank in Madras was the agent authorised to pay the price and accept the documents of title. Delivery in law of the tea was, by virtue of section ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... That object would not be wholly achieved if we hold that delivery of documents of title in the State of Madras would make the sale liable to taxation. It is a rule of construction that general words in a statute admit of indefinite extension or restriction, according to the subject to which they relate, and the scope and object in contemplation (Maxwell on Interpretation of Statutes, 10th Edn., page 18). The same rule is thus stated by Craies. General words must be understood as used with reference to the subject-matter in the mind of the Legislature and limited to it. (Craies on Statute Law, 5th Edn., page 166). It does not seem reasonable to hold that the Legislature intended a sale where tea grown in Madras was shipped in Cochin for bei ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
|
