Source document: https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/1697626662192.pdf (Antigua and Barbuda)
LAWS OF ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA Bills of Sale (CAP.

51 1 CHAPTER 51 T H E BILLS O F SALE A C T Arrangement of Sections Section 1.

Short title.

2.

Application of Act.

3.

Interpretation.

4.

Certain instruments giving powers of distress to be sub- ject to this Act.

5.

Fixtures or growing crops not to be deemed separately the land passes by the same assigned when instrument.

6.

Avoidance of unregistered bills of sale in certain cases.

7.

Avoidance of certain duplicate bills of sale.

8.


Mode of registering bills of sale.

9.

Renewal of registration.

10.

Form of register.

11.

The Registrar.

12.

Rectification of register.

13.

Entry of satisfaction.

14.

Copies may be taken, etc.

15.

Affidavits.

16.

Fees.

17.

Order and disposition.

18.

Rules.

19.

Time for registration.

FIRST SCHEDULE.

SECOND SCHEDULE.

LAWS OF ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA Bills of Sale (CAP.

5 1 3 BILLS O F SALE 1.


This Act may be cited as the Bills of Sale Act.

Short title.

2.

This Act shall apply to every bill of sale executed ;~[lication of on or after the 1st day of October, 1882, (whether the same be absolute, or subject or not subject to any trust) whereby the holder or grantee has power, either with or without notice, and immediately or at any hture time, to seize or take posses- sion of any personal chattels comprised in, or made subject to, such bill of sale.

Interpretation.
Interpretation.

In this Act- 3.
"bill of sale" includes bills of sale, assignments, transfers, declarations of trust without transfer, inventories of goods with receipt thereto attached or receipts for purchase moneys of goods, and other assurances of personal chattels, and also powers of attorney, authorities or licences to take possession of personal chattels as security for any debt, and also any agreement, whether intended or not to be followed by the execution of any other instrument, by which a right in equity to any personal chat- tels, or to any charge or security thereon, shall be conferred, but shall not include the following documents; that is to say, assignments for the benefit of the creditors of the person making or giv- ing the same, marriage settlements, transfers or assignments of any ship or vessel or any share thereof, transfers of goods in the ordinary course of business of any trade or calling, bills of sale of goods in foreign parts or at sea, bills of lading, India warrants, warehouse keepers' certificates, warrants or orders for the delivery of goods or any other documents used in the ordinary course of business as proof of the possession or control of goods, or authorizing or purporting to authorize, either by indorsement or by delivery, the possessor of such LAWS OF ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA CAP.
51) Bills of Sale documents to transfer or receive goods thereby represented.
"personal chattels" means goods, furniture and other articles capable of complete transfer by delivery, and (when separately assigned or charged) fixtures and growing crops, but shall not include chattel interests in Teal estate, nor fixtures (except trade machinery as defined in section 5 of the "Bills of Sale Act, 1878" (Imperial), the provisions of which section are hereby declared to be in force within Antigua and Barbuda as part of this Act), when assigned together with a freehold or leasehold interest in any land or building to which they are affixed, nor growing crops when assigned together with any interest in the land on which they grow, nor shares or interests in the stock.
funds or securities of any Government, or in the capital or property of incorporated or joint stock companies, nor choses in action, nor any stock or produce upon any plantation or estate or lands, which, by virtue of any covenant or agreement, or of the custom of the country, ought not to be removed from any plantation or estate where the same are at the time of making or giving of such bill of sale.
Personal chattels, shall be deemed to be in the '6 apparent possession" of the person making or giv- ing a bill of sale, so long as they remain or are in, or upon, any house, warehouse, building, works, yard, land or other premises occupied by him, or are used and enjoyed by him in any place what- soever, notwithstanding that formal possession thereof may have been taken by, or given to, any other person.

4.
4.

Every attornment, instrument or agreement, not Certain instruments giving powers of being a mining lease, whereby a power of distress is given, or agreed to be given, by any person to any other person, distress to be subject to this by way of security for any present, future or contingent debt A C ~ .
or advance, and whereby any rent is reserved, or made payable, as a mode of providing for the payment of interest on such debt or advance, or otherwise for the purpose of such security only, shall be deemed to be a bill of sale, within LAWS OF ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA Bills of Sale (CAP.
5 1 5 zPS the meaning of this Act, of any personal chattels which may be seized or taken under such power of distress: Provided that nothing in this section shall extend to any mortgage of any estate or interest in any land, tenement or hereditament, which the mortgagee, being in possession, shall have demised to the mortgagor as his tenant at a fair and reasonable rent.

5 .
5 .

No fixtures or growing crops shall be deemed, f:;:;; to be deemed under this Act, to be separately assigned or charged, by reason only that they are assigned by separate words, or that separately assigned when power is given to sever them from the land or building to the land passes which they are affixed, or from the land on which they grow, by the Same instrument.
without otherwise taking possession of or dealing with such land or building, or land, if, by the same instrument, any freehold or leasehold interest in the land or building to which such fixtures are affixed, or in the land on which such crops grow, is also conveyed or assigned to the same persons or person.

6.
6.

Every bill of sale to which this Act applies shall ~;;$(;e:fhills sale in certain be duly attested, and shall be registered under this Act within seven days after the making or giving thereof, and shall set cases.
forth the consideration for which such bill of sale was given, otherwise such bill of sale, as against all trustees or assignees of the estate of the person whose chattels, or any of them, are comprised in such bill of sale; under the law relating to bankruptcy, or under any assignment for the benefit of the creditors of such person, and also as against all persons seizing any chattels comprised in such bill of sale, in the execution of any process of any Court authorizing the seizure of the chattels of the person by whom or of whose chattels, such bill has been made, and also as against every person on whose behalf such process shall have been issued, shall be deemed fraudulent and void so far as regards the property in, or right to, the possession of any chattels comprised in such bill of sale, which, at or after the time of filing the peti- tion for bankruptcy, or of the execution of such assignment, or of executing such process (as the case may be), and after the expiration of such seven days, are in the possession, or apparent possession, of the person making such bill of sale, or of any person against whom the process has issued, under or in the execution of which such bill has been made or given as the case may be.
Avoidance of certain duplicate bills of sale.

LAWS OF ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA CAP.

51) Bills of Sale 7.
Where a subsequent bill of sale is executed within, or on the expiration of, seven days after the execution of a prior unregistered bill of sale, akd comprises all, or any part, of the personal chattels comprised in such prior bill of sale, then, if such subsequent bill of sale is given as a security for the same debt as is secured by the prior bill of sale, or for any part of such debt, it shall, to the extent to which it is a security for the same debt, or part thereof, and so far as respects the personal chattels, or part thereof, com- prised in the prior bill, be absolutely void, unless it is proved to the satisfaction of the Court having cognizance of the case that the subsequent bill of sale was bonafide given for the purpose of correcting some material error in the prior bill of sale and not for the purpose of evading this Act.
Mode of registering bills of sale.

8.

(1) A bill of sale shall be attested and registered under this Act in the following manner- (a) The execution of every bill of sale shall be attested by a solicitor of the Supreme Court, and the attestation shall state that, before the execution of the bill of sale, the effect thereof has been explained to the grantor by the attesting solicitor.
(6) Such bill, with every schedule or inventory thereto annexed or therein referred to, and also a true copy of such bill and of every such schedule or inven- tory, and of every attestation of the execution of such bill of sale, together with an affidavit of the time of such bill of sale being made or given, and of its due execu- tion and attestation, and a description of the residence and occupation of the person making or giving the same (or in case the same is made or given by any person under or in the execution of any process, then a descrip- tion of the residence and occupation of the person against whom such process issued), and of every attesting witness to such bill of sale, shall be presented to, and the said copy and affidavit shall be filed with the Registrar within seven clear days after the making or giving of such bill of sale.
(c) If the bill of sale is made or given subject to any defeasance or condition or declaration of trust not contained in the body thereof, such defeasance, condi- tion or declaration shall be deemed to be part of the LAWS OF ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA Bills of Sale (CAP.

51 7 bill, and shall be written upon the same paper or par- chment therewith before the registration, and shall be truly set forth in the copy filed under this Act, and as part thereof, otherwise the registration shall be void.
(2) In case two or more bills are given, comprising in whole or in part any of the same chattels, they shall have priority in the order of the date of their registration respec- tively as regards such chattels.

(3) A transfer or assignment of a registered bill of sale need not be registered.

9.

(1) The registration of a bill of sale must be renew- Renewal of registration.
ed once at least every five years, and, if a period of five years elapses from the registration, or renewed registration, of a bill of sale without a renewal or further renewal (as the case may be), the registration shall become void.
The renewal of a registration shall be effected by filing with the Registrar an affidavit stating the date of the bill of sale and of the last registration thereof, and the names, residences and occupa- tions, of the parties thereto as stated therein, and that the bill of sale is still a subsisting security.

(2) Every such affidavit may be in the form set forth in the First Schedule.

First Schedule.
First Schedule.

(3) A renewal of registration shall not become necessary by reason of a transfer or assignment of a bill of sale.

10.

(1) The Registrar shall keep a book (in this Act Form of register.

called "the register") for the purposes of this Act and shall, upon the filing of any bill of sale or copy under this Act, enter therein, in the form set forth in the Second Schedule, Second Schedule.
or in any other prescribed form, the name, residence and occupation of the person by whom the bill was made or given (or, in case the same was made or given by any person under or in the execution of process, then the name, residence and occupation of the person against whom such process was issued, and also the name of the person or persons to whom or in whose favour the bill was given) and the other par- ticulars shown in the said Schedule, or to be prescribed under this Act, and shall number all such bills registered in each year consecutively, according to the respective dates of their 8 CAP.
51) Bills of Sale LAWS OF ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA registration.

Upon the registration of any affidavit of renewal, the like entry shall be made, with the addition of the date and number of the last previous entry relating to the same bill, and the bill of sale or copy originally filed shall be thereupon marked with the number affixed to such affidavit of renewal.
The Registrar shall also keep an index of the names of the grantors of registered bills of sale with reference to entries in the register of the bills of sale given by each such grantor.

(2) Such index shall be arranged in divisions correspon- ding with the letters of the alphabet, so that all grantors whose surnames begin with the same letter (and no others) shall be comprised in one division, but the arrangement within each such division need not be strictly alphabetical.

The Registrar.

1 .
The Registrar.

1 .

The Registrar of the High Court shall be the Registrar for the purposes of this Act.

Rectification of register.

Entry of satisfaction.

Copies may be taken, etc.

12.
Any Judge, on being satisfied that the omission to register a bill of sale, or an affidavit of renewal thereof, within the time prescribed by this Act, or the omission or mis-statement of the name, residence, or occupation of any person was accidental or due to inadvertence, may, in his discretion, order such omission or mis-statement to be rec- tified by the insertion in the register of the true name, residence, or occupation, or by extending the time for such registration, on such terms and conditions, if any, as to secur- ity, notice by advertisement or otherwise, or as to any other matter, as he thinks fit to direct.
13.

Subject to and in accordance with any rules to be made under and for the purposes of this Act, the Registrar may order a memorandum of satisfaction to be written upon any registered copy of a bill of sale, upon the prescribed evidence being given that the debt, if any, for which such bill of sale was made or given, has been satisfied or discharged.

14.
14.

Any person shall be entitled to have an office copy, or extract, of any registered bill of sale and affidavit of execution filed therewith, or copy thereof, and of any affidavit filed therewith, if any, or registered affidavit of renewal, upon paying for the same at the like rate as for LAWS OF AWTIGUA AND BARBUDA Bills of Sale (CAP.
51 9 office copies of judgments of the High Court, and any copy of a registered bill of sale and affidavit, purporting to be an office copy thereof, shall, in all Courts and before all arbitrators or other persons, be admitted as prima facie evidence thereof, and of the fact and date of registration as shown thereon.
Any person shall be entitled, at all reasonable times, to search the register and every registered bill of sale, upon payment of twenty-four cents for every copy of a bill of sale inspected, which payment shall be made by stamp.

15.

(1) Every affidavit required by, or for the pur- Affidavits.

poses of, this Act may be sworn before the Registrar of the High Court.

(2) Whosoever wilfully makes or uses any false affidavit for the purposes of this Act shall be deemed guilty of wilful and corrupt perjury.
16.

There shall be paid and received in stamps the Fees.

following fees, viz- O n filing a bill of sale ............................ O n filing the affidavit of execution of a bill of sale O n the affidavit used for the purposes of re- registering a bill of sale (to include the fee .......................................... for filing) $ c. 48 .48 1.20 17.
Chattels comprised in a bill of sale which has 2;gsi;;d,, been, and continues to be, duly registered under this Act, shall not be deemed to be in the possession, order or disposi- tion of the grantor of the bill of sale within the meaning of the Bankruptcy Act.

Cap.

41 18.

Rules for the purposes of this Act may be made Rules.

and altered, from time to time, in like manner as rules of the Supreme Court may be made and altered.

19.

When the time for registering a bill of sale expires Time registration.
for on a Sunday, or other day on which the Registrar's office is closed, the registration shall be valid if made on the next following day on which the office is open.

10 CAP.
10 CAP.

51) Bills of Sale IAWS OF ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA F I R S T S C H E D U L E s. 9 ( 2 ) 1, , of , d o swear that a bill of sale, bearing date the , (insert the date of the bill), and made between (insert the names 19 and descriptions of the parties in the ortginal bill of sale), and which said bill of sale (or a copy of which bill of sale, as the case may be) was registered on the (insert date of registration), is still a subsisting security.

day of day of 19 Sworn, etc.


S E C O N D S C H E D U L E S. lO(1) Satisfaction entered No.

By whom given (or against whom process issued Name.

Resi- dence.

Occu- pation To whom given. '

3 u E 2 2 Y m I m 2 .

5 d c' 0 .

- '2 2.5 d ?

.

V1 - " E L L O L o - - .

0 c .

5 6 2.24 5 m 6 G G 0 2 % :