The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1917-03-08

Erase Difficulties.
The uniform sales act is one of the
measures drafted under the super
vision of the commissioners on uni
form state laws. body whose purpose
| is to remove. so far as practicable, the
difficulties aristing from having diff
ferent laws in different states in re-
gard to the same subject matter. To
this end. then. commissioners have
proposed various statutes for adoption
by the different states. in the hope
that by getting the same statute adopt
| ed in all the states. uniformity might
insofar be secured. Their statute
which has been most widely adopted,
the negotiable instruments law. Is now
law in North Dakota as it is in nearly
every other state in the union. An
other of these statutes is the uniform
sales act. now adopted in some six
teen states. which North Dakota has
in this legislature just adopted.
The most important effect OF the
uniform act. as part Of the law of
North Dakota is. however. not its eff
feet to make the law of sales more
generally uniform with that of other
states-an effect itself very important
with the increasing volume of BUSH
ness crossing state lines-but its effect
in making the local law of sales more
certain. Even with the increasing
volume Of business crossing state lines,
the instances when difficulty has arisen
in the adjustment of controversies be-
cause the laws OF different states diff
fer on the matters in question. are few
in comparison with the number of
instances when difficulty has arisen
in the adjustment Of local contro-
versies in sales transactions because
the parties or their attorneys could
not find out what the local law was
.1-s.a a.
state supreme court for final determin-
alton. The old code upon which law
yers had to rely, drawn ND over fifty
years ago, contained but few and often |
indefinite provisions in regard to sales |
transactions. The additional help to |
be derived from reports Of cases de- |
cided in North Dakota afforded little |
relief. since our reports are few and as |
yet deal with comparatively few prob |
lens. The help to be derived from |
decisions from other states as proceed |
ents was often questionable since |
these precedents were often very con-
flicting. The result was that upon |
practically every disputed question In |
a controversy, no one could get a final |
answer without carrying the case to
the supreme court.
Laws Made Certain.
Under the uniform sales act this un- |
sales is has been largely changed to |
certainty. The uniform sales act is a |
codification of the present-day case
law on the subject throughout the !
country. a statement in definite statu-
tory form of the results reached in the |
decision of actual cases in litigation on
questions involving sales 1t thus
touches a great many more present |
day controversies, likely to arise here |
hn he q
of the old code. and 1t states the re- |
suits of the countrywide litigation in |
definite rules that may be read, under |
stood, and applied without wading |
through the maze Of conflicting
authorities found in the reports from
all the states.
Example of Present Conditions.
A single example may suffice to |
illustrate the effect of the uniform |
sales act in making the local law of |
sales more certain, and thereby. max |
ing easier the orderly adjustment Of |
controversies without long continued |
and expensive litigation. A farmer |
ordered q tractor from a machine |
company. Before the time fixed for |
delivery he changed his mind and
notified the company he should not
want the machine In the controversy
that followed all parties admitted that |
the farmer had broken his contract, |
but the case had to 20 to the supreme |
court before it was finally decided that |
the farmer need only pay the damages |
the company had suffered from that |
breach, instead Of being compelled to |
take the machine against his will and |
paying the whole contract price. The |
difference in the two results is ap-
parent. If he need pay only the dam |
ages suffered by the breach, that may |
be very little. as it is only the differ
ence between the contract price of the |
machine and what the seller could get |
for it on q resale. If he must take the |
machine against his will and pay the |
whole contract price. that may amount |
to a large sum. 1t is therefore Of the |
greatest practical Importance to have
that question settled in our law. but
on that question the farmers case, in
the instance described. had to be taken
to the supreme court before 1t could
be finally determined. To anyone
familiar with the law of the case the
reason for such extended litigation on
that simple question is easily appar-
ent; there is nothing conclusive in our
code upon it, the particular question
had not yet happened to come up in
our local cases, and the cases from
other states were very conflicting.
That particular question, with many
others. which have been litigated else
where, is definitely dealt with in the
uniform sales act
Careful comparison OF the matters
definitely dealt with by the uniform
sales act which were left uncertain in
our pre-existing law reveals many i'm
portant features. only a few of which
can here be mentioned. Such are. for
example, specific provisions in regard
to acceptance under the statute of
frauds, partial loss or deterioration
after the bargain, warranties rules
for ascertaining intention to pass title,
mercantile theory of documents of
title, suff1ciency OF delivery, delivery
of wrong quantity or in installments
or wrong delivery, liens after part de-
livery, when goods are in transit, when
there may be action for the contract
price as distinguished from damages
act to secure uniformity.
sales act is very important in max
ing our local law of sales more GER
tain, it makes very few affirmative
changes in previously announced
existing law in North Dakota. The |
most important affirmative changes
and some of those mere changes in
detail-are in regard to warranties, |
statute of frauds. sellers lien, sale by
one having a voidable title. and sales |
at a valuation.
The uniform sales act then, which |
thanks to the last legislature we have |
now on our statute book, is q mea-
sure to make uniform the laws Of the |
different states in regard to sales. In |
doing that 1t at the same time makes |
our local law Of sales much more GER