Hire-Purchase Act, 1946
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Interpretation. |
1.—In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires— | |
the words “action”, “buyer”, “delivery”, “goods”, “property”, “sale”, “seller” and “warranty” have the meanings respectively assigned to them by the Sale of Goods Act, 1893 ; | ||
the expression “hire-purchase agreement” means an agreement for the bailment of goods under which the bailee may buy the goods or under which the property in the goods will or may pass to the bailee, and where by virtue of two or more agreements, none of which by itself constitutes a hire-purchase agreement, there is a bailment of goods and either the bailee may buy the goods, or the property therein will or may pass to the bailee, the agreements shall be treated for the purposes of this Act as a single agreement made at the time when the last of the agreements was made; | ||
the expression “credit-sale agreement” means an agreement for the sale of goods under which the purchase price is payable by five or more instalments; | ||
the expression “hire-purchase price” means the total sum payable by the hirer under a hire-purchase agreement in order to complete the purchase of the goods to which the agreement relates, exclusive of any sum payable as a penalty or as compensation or damages for a breach of the agreement; | ||
the word “owner” means the person who lets or has let goods to a hirer under a hire-purchase agreement and includes a person to whom the owner's property in the goods or any of the owner's rights or liabilities under the agreement has passed by assignment or by operation of law; | ||
the word “hirer” means the person who takes or has taken goods from an owner under a hire-purchase agreement and includes a person to whom the hirer's rights or liabilities under the agreement have passed by assignment or by operation of law; | ||
the expression “contract of guarantee” means, in relation to any hire-purchase agreement or credit-sale agreement, a contract, made at the request express or implied of the hirer or buyer, to guarantee the performance of the hirer's or buyer's obligations under the hire-purchase agreement or credit-sale agreement, and the expression “guarantor” shall be construed accordingly; | ||
the expression “total purchase price” means the total sum payable by the buyer under a credit-sale agreement, exclusive of any sum payable as a penalty or as compensation or damages for a breach of the agreement. | ||
(2) Where an owner has agreed that any part of the hire-purchase price may be discharged otherwise than by the payment of money, any such discharge shall for the purposes of sections 5 , 7 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 and 16 of this Act, be deemed to be a payment of that part of the hire-purchase price. |