Sale of goods

The Sale of Goods Act 1979, s 51(2) provided that where a seller had wrongfully refused to deliver the goods to the buyer, the measure of damages was the estimated loss directly and naturally resulting, in the ordinary course of events, from the seller’s breach of contract.

In regard to an anticipatory repudiatory breach, the relevant date to assess the loss was the due date for delivery, alternatively the date when the goods ought reasonably to have been delivered, not the date of the repudiation or the buyer’s acceptance of it. Where there was not a ready market the court had to look at the next best evidence.

The seller was, however, only liable for such part of the buyer’s loss as was properly to be regarded as caused by the seller’s breach. If the buyer failed to take reasonable steps to mitigate his loss consequent on the seller’s breach, he was debarred from claiming any part of