England and Wales: Reservation of Title

Abstract

The problem of reservation of title to goods became a major one for insolvency practitioners in England and Wales only following the decision of Mocatta, J., confirmed by the Court of Appeal, in Aluminium Industrie Vaassen v. Romalpa Aluminium, [1976] 2 All E.R. 552. Since then, reservation of title clauses have been much more widely used and suppliers who use them have become much more aware of the benefits to be derived from their use. Nevertheless such clauses have been in use for some considerable time; the relevant provisions of the Sale of Goods Act 1979 were originally enacted in 1893.