RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN THE LAW OF SALE AND UNFAIR CONTRACT TERMS

In a short private member's bill the infamous rule in market overt has been abolished — Sale of Goods (Amendment) Act 1994 which simply states that: 1. Section 22 (relating to the sale of goods in market overt) of the Sale of Goods Act 1979) is hereby repealed. This was one of the proposals in the Department of Trade and Industry's consultation document ‘Transfer of Title: Sections 21 to 26 of the Sale of Goods Act 1979’ (January 1994). This document which looked as if it had been put together in a civil service lunch hour has been widely criticised and as yet the Government show no sign of introducing a coherent lending and security act based on the proposals of the Crowther Committee on Consumer Credit (Cmnd 4596 Part VI 1971 — see Government response ‘Reform of the Law of Consumer Credit 1973 Cmnd 5427 rejecting a proposed Lending and Security Act) and the Diamond Report ‘A Review of Security Interests in Property’ (DTI 1989).