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Contract and Commercial Law Act 2017

Other commercial matters - Mercantile agents - Miscellaneous provisions

308: Saving of rights of true owner

You could also call this:

“Rights of true owners when others handle their goods”

This part of the law is about protecting the rights of people who truly own goods, even when someone else (called a mercantile agent) is handling those goods. Here’s what you need to know:

The mercantile agent can’t do more than what the owner allows them to do. If they do, they could get in trouble.

If you own something, you can always get it back from the agent before they sell or pledge it. This is true even if the agent has gone bankrupt or is closing down their business.

If you own something that the agent has pledged (which means they’ve used it as security for a loan), you can get it back by paying off the loan and any other money the agent is owed. You can do this any time before it’s sold.

If your goods have been pledged and then sold, you might be able to get back any extra money left over after the loan is paid off.

If the agent sells your goods, you can still try to get the money from the buyer. But the buyer might be able to reduce what they owe you if the agent owes them money too.

Remember, this law is here to protect you if you’re the real owner of the goods, even when someone else is handling them for you.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM6844656.

Topics:
Business > Fair trading Business > Industry rules Money and consumer rights > Consumer protection
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Part 5 Other commercial matters
Mercantile agents: Miscellaneous provisions

308Saving of rights of true owner

  1. This subpart does not—

  2. authorise a mercantile agent to exceed or depart from the agent’s authority as between the agent and the agent’s principal; or
    1. exempt the agent from any liability, civil or criminal, for exceeding or departing from that authority.

      1. This subpart does not prevent the owner of goods from recovering the goods from a mercantile agent or a specified person at any time before the sale or pledge of the goods.

      2. In subsection (2), specified person means,—

      3. in the case of a mercantile agent that is bankrupt, the Official Assignee (within the meaning of the Insolvency Act 2006); or
        1. in the case of a mercantile agent in liquidation, the liquidator.

          1. This subpart does not prevent the owner of goods pledged by a mercantile agent—

          2. from having the right to redeem the goods at any time before the sale of the goods, on—
            1. satisfying the claim for which the goods were pledged; and
              1. paying to the mercantile agent, if required by the agent, any money in respect of which the agent would by law be entitled to retain the goods or the documents of title to the goods (or any of those goods or documents) by way of lien as against the owner; or
              2. from recovering from any person with whom the goods have been pledged any balance of money remaining in the person’s hands as the proceeds of the sale of the goods after deducting the amount of the person’s lien.

                1. This subpart does not prevent the owner of goods sold by a mercantile agent from recovering from the buyer the price agreed to be paid for the goods, or any part of that price, subject to any right of set-off on the part of the buyer against the agent.

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