First Principles of Business Law

3. Terms implied by law into contracts for the sale of goods

3.3. Terms regarding the delivery of goods bought and sold

Read the facts and the question and then choose the best answer.

A agrees to sell 100 tonnes of grade 1 Australian wheat to B at a price of $500 per tonne. As part of their contract, A promises to deliver the wheat to B's mill. But they do not discuss when delivery is to take place.

Two weeks later A has still not delivered the wheat. When B complains, A says that he will deliver it as soon as he can arrange the necessary transport, but that may take another ten days or so. B says that, in terms of the contract, A must deliver the wheat within a reasonable time. A says the contract contains no such term.

In the absence of an agreed time of performance, is A contractually obliged to deliver within a reasonable time?

(a) Yes. If no time for performance is agreed, it becomes a term of the contract that performance is due within a reasonable time.

(b) No. If no time for performance is agreed, the contract does not require that performance be made within any particular time.