History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v4.c63.813
History of Dharmaśāstra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v4.c63.813
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*Krayavikrayānuśaya* (repentance after purchase or sale). Manu VIII. 222 and Kauṭ. III. 15 regard this as one title of law. But Nār. (XI and XII) splits this into two titles viz. *vikriyāsampradāna* (non-delivery of a thing after it is sold for a price) and *krītvānuśaya* (repentance after buying). Manu states the general rule that whenever a person after buying or selling anything repents of having done so, he may return or take back that thing within ten days. Nār. XI. 2 states that property is of two kinds in this world viz. movable and immovable and that all property is designated as *paṇya* (saleable) in rules about purchase and sale. According to Yāj. II. 254, Nār. XI. 4-5, Viṣṇu Dh. S. V. 127⁸⁶⁰, if a man sells property and does not deliver it to the purchaser, he should be made to deliver it to the purchaser together with profits (between the time of sale and delivery) and if it is movable together with the price of profits arising⁸⁶¹ from it (such as milk in the case of a cow). Viṣṇu Dh. S. V. 128 prescribes a fine of 100 paṇas against the vendor. Kauṭ. III.
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15 prescribes a fine of 12 paṇas against the vendor who after selling a thing does not deliver it and also against a buyer who having purchased does not take delivery of it, except when the thing itself is defective or is lost by act of king or theft or by fire or flood or unless the transaction was for inadequate price or brought about in distress.⁸⁶² If the article sold is not delivered by the vendor after demand by the vendee and it is injured, destroyed by fire or stolen, the loss will fall on the vendor (Nār. XI. 6, Viṣṇu Dh. S. V. 129, Yāj. II. 256). These rules apply when the vendor does not feel repentance for having sold the thing, but if he feels repentance then Manu VIII. 222 will apply and the vendor may pay back the price and recover the article within ten days⁸⁶³ from the sale. Kāt. (684) provides the same rule. No one, either buyer or vendor, can rescind the sale after ten days and if any one uses force in recovering the article sold or bought after that period the king should fine him 600 paṇas. Manu VIII. 228 extends these rules about repentance and recovery within ten days to all transactions whatever. Kāt. (685) prescribes that the period of ten days for repentance is allowed to vendors and vendees only in the case of land, and that the period is 12 days when the parties to sale of land are sapiṇḍas of one another and that in other cases the period is even shorter.⁸⁶⁴ Yāj. II. 257, Nār. XI. 7-8, Bṛ. (S. B. E. vol. 33 p.
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350 verse 4) provide that when a vendor having sold a thing to one man for a price received sells it to another or having concealed the defects of an article sells it as free from defects he should be made to return double the price to the purchaser and a fine equal to double the price to the king.⁸⁶⁵ The above rules apply where the purchaser has paid the price, but if there is a mere agreement and no price is paid, then the vendor or vendee is guilty of no wrong if he resiles from the bare agreement to sell or buy unless they have made an express stipulation that the agreement cannot be rescinded (Nār. XI. 10). When at the time of the agreement for sale, the vendee pays something by way of earnest, then if the sale goes off through the fault of the vendor, the latter has to return to the vendee double of the earnest;⁸⁶⁶ but if the purchaser does not finally take it he loses the thing and also the earnest. Nār. XII. 1 prescribes that when a vendee after having purchased a thing for a price repents of the purchase that is the title of law called 'rescission of purchase.' Nār. XII. 2 prescribes that if the purchaser thinks that he has made a bad bargain he may return the thing purchased to the vendor on the same day in an undamaged condition (and may receive back the price paid);
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but if he returns it on the 2nd or 3rd day after the purchase (including the day of purchase) he will have to lose respectively one-thirtieth or one-fifteenth of the price and after the third day he cannot return the thing at all (Nār. XII. 3). But Yāj. II. 177 and Nār. XII. 5-6 lay down the following periods for examination of things purchased, viz. one, three, five, seven, ten days, half a month and one month respectively in the case of iron (and clothes), milch cattle, beasts of burden, jewels (precious stones, pearls and corals), all sorts of grain, a male slave and a female slave. It must be supposed that these verses contain exceptions to the general rule in Manu VIII. 222 cited above. Kaut. (III. 15) allows only one night, three nights, five nights and seven nights for repentance to traders, husbandmen, cowherds, the mixed castes and higher castes and provides that where the articles sold are perishable a very short time only may be allowed. The above rules apply only when the purchaser made no examination at the time of purchase. Nār.⁸⁶⁷ XII. 4 and Bṛ. (S. B. E. vol. 33 p. 350 verse 3) recommend that a purchaser should himself closely examine an article before buying it and also show it to others in order to find out its defects and good qualities and provide that when he has approved of an article after close examination he cannot return it to the vendor.
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Vyāsa provides that hides, fuel, bricks, yarn, grain, intoxicants, fluids, gold, inferior metals (like lead and tin) and other wealth should be carefully examined then and there i. e. when once bought after close examination none of these can be returned even if some defect⁸⁶⁸ is found therein. Nār. (XII. 5-6) cited above contains exceptions to this. Nār. XII. 7 gives an example of a purchase being not liable to be rescinded when a defective article is purchased with open eyes viz. a worn garment which is soiled with dirt and is in ragged condition cannot be returned to the vendor if it was in that state at the time of the purchase i. e. the maxim '*caveat emptor*' applies. If a purchaser does not take delivery of the thing sold to him, the vendor may sell it again to another⁸⁶⁹ and if the thing is lost through act of God or the king the loss falls on the buyer alone (Yāj. II. 255, Nār. XI. 9). Kāt. (692) provides⁸⁷⁰ that what has been sold by a lunatic or an intoxicated person or through intimidation or for an inadequate price or by one who is dependent or by an idiot should be relinquished by the purchaser; it still belongs to the seller. Kāt. (705–706) lays down a novel rule to find out what is adequate or inadequate price. What⁸⁷¹ is decided by the neighbours assembled together, who know (the land &c. and its value) and who are afraid of committing sin, as the price of fields, gardens, houses and the like, of bipeds and quadrupeds, is declared to be the proper price;
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a price which is less or more than it by one-eighth is declared to be improper; what is sold for an improper price may be annulled even after a hundred years. Kāt. (704) states that when the owner of a field absconds together with the surety⁸⁷² for the payment of the land tax, the judges of the court may order a sale for recovery of the tax and that such a sale may be set aside up to ten years and a compromise or exchange up to three generations, if it is inequitable. Bhāradvāja provides that when taxes are not paid both by the tax-payer and his surety even when called upon to do so, then the king may order a charge on the land or sale of the land.