Q.What is meant by 'Transfer of Title by a Non-Owner'? Discuss the general rule and its exceptions under the Sale of Goods Act, 1930.

Ordinarily, a buyer cannot get better title to goods than his seller actually had — but the Act protects certain innocent buyers by carving out specific, well-defined exceptions to this rule.

Section 27 states the maxim nemo dat quod non habet — 'no one can give what he does not have' — so a person buying from a non-owner ordinarily gets no title at all, or only whatever limited title the seller actually had. The Act's own exceptions protect a good-faith buyer without notice in five situations: a sale by a mercantile agent in possession with the owner's consent (Section 27 proviso); a sale by one of several joint owners in sole possession with the others' permission (Section 28); a sale under a still-unrescinded voidable contract (Section 29); a sale by a seller who remains in pos …

The general rule (Section 27): where goods are sold by a person who is not the owner, and who does not sell under the authority or with the consent of the owner, the buyer acquires no better title to the goods than the seller himself had. This embodies the maxim nemo dat quod non habet — 'no one can give what he does not have.' The rule exists to protect the TRUE OWNER's title from being defeated merely because his goods passed through the hands of someone with no right to sell them.

Why exceptions are needed: a rule that NEVER let an innocent buyer get good title from a non-owner would make ordinary commerce dangerously uncertain — a buyer could never be fully sure his purchase was safe. The Act therefore recognises specific situations where a buyer acting in GOOD FAITH and WITHOUT NOTICE of the seller's defective title is protected with a good title of his own:

1. Sale by a mercantile agent (Section 27 proviso): a mercantile agent in possession of goods (or documents of title) with the owner's consent, selling in the ordinary course of his business as such an agent, can pass a good title to a good-faith buyer.
2. Sale by one of several joint owners (Section 28): where one of several joint owners has sole possession of goods with the others' permission, a good-faith buyer without notice gets a good title.
3. Sale under a voidable contract (Section 29): where the seller obtained the goods under a contract voidable for coercion/fraud/misrepresentation/undue influence (Sections 19/19A, Indian Contract Act, 1872), but the contract had not yet been rescinded at the time of sale, a good-faith buyer without notice acquires a good title. …

Students often state the exceptions without the crucial qualifying condition — GOOD FAITH and NO NOTICE of the defect on the buyer's part. If the buyer KNEW (or had notice) of the seller's lack of title, none …