Report No. 20
2. Definitions.-
In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,-
(a) "contract of guarantee", in relation to any hire-purchase agreement, means a contract, which guarantees the performance of all or any of the hirer's obligations under the hire-purchase agreement; and the expression "surety" shall be construed accordingly;
[Cf. section 2(1), H.P.A., 1938] [Cf. section 126, I.C.A.]
(b) "hire' means the sum payable periodically by the hirer under a hire-purchase agreement;
[Contrast section 2(2)(b), H.P.A., 1938 which speaks of "instalment".]
(c) "hire-purchase agreement" means an agreement under which goods are let on hire and under which the hirer has an option to purchase them in accordance with the terms of the agreement; and includes an agreement under which--
(i) possession of goods is delivered to another person, on condition that he pays an agreed amount in periodical instalments, and
(ii) the property in the goods is to pass to such person on the payment of the last of such instalments, and
(iii) such person has a right to terminate the agreement at any time before the property so passes;
[Contrast section 21(1), H.P.A.]
(d) "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;
[Cf. section 21(1), H.P.A., 1938]
and includes any sum payable by the hirer under the hire-purchase agreement by way of a deposit or other initial payment, or credited or to be credited to him under such an agreement on account of any such deposit or payment, whether that sum is to be or has been paid to the owner or to any other person or is to be or has been discharged by a payment of money or by the transfer or delivery of goods or by any other means;
but does not include, any sum payable as a penalty or as compensation or damages for a breach of the agreement;
[Cf. section 3(1), H.P.A., 1954]
(e) "hirer" means the person who obtains or has obtained possession of 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;
[Cf. section 21(1), H.P.A., 1938]
(f) "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; and
[Cf. section 21(1), H.P.A., 1938]
(g) all words and expressions used and not defined in this Act but defined in the Indian Sale of Goods Act, 1930 (3 of 1930), shall have the meanings respectively assigned to them in that Act.1
1. See, for example, sections 2(2), 2(7), 2(11), 4, 12(2) and 12(3), I.S.G.A.
[Cf. section 3(28), Navy Act, 1957 (62 of 1957)]
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