A series of high-profile insolvencies in 2020 caused by the coronavirus pandemic, oil price crash and allegations of fraudulent activity has brought to the forefront the question of a seller's rights over goods when they are in transit to an insolvent buyer. While the seller might have a claim in damages or for the price, such claims will be unsecured and therefore of little to no value against an insolvent buyer.
We therefore consider in this article an unpaid seller's common law rights against the goods themselves under the Sale of Goods Act 1979 ("the Act") including the interplay of those rights with each of the sale contract and the recent changes to UK insolvency law.
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