ABSTRACT

There are three basic ways in which the property of a private person may be alienated or transferred to some other person. One possible way is by voluntary actions by the owner which are intended to have that effect, often described as voluntary alienation. The common law developed a number of rules to regulate the sale of movable property, which was replaced in England by the Sale of Goods Act 1893 (UK). This Act was introduced into the laws of Kiribati, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu and Vanuatu, and has not been replaced by local legislation. Under the common law, only two kinds of legal choses in action were assignable or transferable: legal choses transferred to, or by, the Crown and, as a result of the impact of the law merchant, mercantile choses, such as bills of exchange, bills of lading and policies of insurance.