United Kingdom commercial law

Goods being transported by container ship.

United Kingdom commercial law is the law which regulates the sale and purchase of goods and services, when doing business in the United Kingdom.

## History

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The Guildhall, London was the administrative centre of London's medieval trade. Its most famous inhabitant, mythologised in the 19th century play, was Dick Whittington and His Cat who came when he heard that "London streets are paved with gold".

* Lex Mercatoria
* Hanseatic league
* Guild
* Mercantilism
* Freedom of contract
* Laissez faire

## Foundations

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### Personal property

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Main article: English property law

* Real property and personal property
* Ownership
* Equitable ownership
* Possession
* Attornment
* Bailment

### Contracts

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Main article: English contract law

* Commercial contracts

### Agency

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Main articles: Agency in English law and Agency (law)

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Cases on agency

Hely-Hutchinson v Brayhead Ltd [1968] 1 QB 549

Freeman and Lockyer v Buckhurst Park Ltd [1964] 2 QB 480

Watteau v Fenwick [1893] 1 QB 346

The Santa Carina [1977] 1 Lloyd's Rep 478

Armstrong v Stokes (1872) LR 7 QB 598

Kelly v Cooper [1993] AC 205

De Bussche v Alt (1878) 8 ChD 286

Luxor (Eastbourne) Ltd v Cooper [1941] AC 108

Lonsdale v Howard & Hallam Ltd [2007] UKHL 32

Agency in English law

In the case of Watteau v Fenwick,[1] Lord Coleridge CJ on the Queen's Bench concurred with an opinion by Wills J that a third party could hold personally liable a principal who he did know about when he sold cigars to an agent that was acting outside of its authority. Wills J held that "the principal is liable for all the acts of the agent which are within the authority usually confided to an agent of that character, notwithstanding limitations, as between the principal and the agent, put upon that authority." This decision is heavily criticised and doubted,[2] though not entirely overruled in the UK. It is sometimes referred to as "usual authority" (though not in the sense used by Lord Denning MR in Hely-Hutchinson, where it is synonymous with "implied actual authority"). It has been explained as a form of apparent authority, or "inherent agency power".

* Hely-Hutchinson v Brayhead Ltd [1968] 1 QB 549
* Creation and authority of agents
* Disclosed and undisclosed agency
* Agent duties and rights
* Termination of agency

## Sale of goods

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### Sale of Goods Act 1979

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Main article: Sale of Goods Act 1979

* Sale of Goods Act 1979, the primary statute applicable to the sale of goods.

### Property passing and delivery

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* Title retention clause

### Terms, acceptance and rejection

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* Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977
* Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations 2000

### Remedies and duties

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* United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods
* UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration

## Bills of exchange and banking

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See also: Bill of exchange and Bank regulation

* Negotiable instrument
* Bill of exchange
* Bank regulation
* Payment systems
* Cheques

## Assignment and receivables

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This section is empty. You can help by adding to it. (July 2010)

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## International sales

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Main article: International commercial law

* United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods
* Free alongside ship contract
* Free on board contract
* Cost, insurance, freight contract

## Commercial credit and security

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### Possessory security

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* Pledges
* Liens

### Non-possessory security

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* Mortgage
* Equitable charge
* Equitable lien

### Guarantees

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See also: Surety

## Insurance law

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Main article: Insurance in the United Kingdom

See also: Insurance law

* Life Assurance Act 1774
* uberrimae fidei
* Subrogation
* Marine insurance and Marine Insurance Act 1906

## Insolvency law

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Main article: UK insolvency law

## See also

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* International commercial law
* Islamic Commercial Law
* UK competition law
* UK labour law
* UK company law
* European Union Value Added Tax
* Bill of lading
* Principal (commercial law)
* Centre for Commercial Law Studies

## Notes

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1. ^ [1893] 1 QB 346
2. ^ e.g. GHL Fridman, 'The Demise of Watteau v Fenwick: Sign-O-Lite Ltd v Metropolitan Life Insurance Co' (1991) 70 Canadian Bar Review 329

## References

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* L Sealy and RJA Hooley, Commercial Law: Texts, Cases and Materials (4th edn OUP, Oxford 2008)
* Roy Goode, Commercial law (3rd edn Penguin, London 2004)

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Law of the United Kingdom

Common fields|

* Parliamentary sovereignty
* Constitutional law
* English law
* Law of Northern Ireland
* Scots law
* Welsh law
* Civil liberties
* Company and insolvency law
* Competition law
* Labour law
* Commercial law
* Retained EU law

Parallel fields|

* Scots delict and English tort law
* Scots and English contract law
* Scots and English land law
* Trusts
* Scots and English administrative law
* Scots and English criminal law
* Scots and English family law
* Scots and English civil procedure

Related systems|

* British Virgin Islands
* Australia
* Canada
* European Union
* Hong Kong
* India
* Ireland
* New Zealand
* United States
* Anglo-Saxon law
* Common law
* Equity
* English case law

See also|

* Legal services in the United Kingdom
* British penal law

United Kingdom law category

This article relating to law in the United Kingdom, or its constituent jurisdictions, is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

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