{"id":"factors-acts-amendment-act-1878","name":"Factors Acts Amendment Act 1878","slug":"factors-acts-amendment-act-1878","collection":"act","jurisdiction":"wa","status":"in_force","isInForce":true,"actNumber":null,"makingDate":null,"administeringDepartment":null,"currentVersion":{"id":30576,"registerId":"wa-factors-acts-amendment-act-1878-current","compilationNumber":null,"startDate":"2026-04-01","status":"InForce","reasons":null,"registeredAt":null},"sections":[{"sectionNumber":"1","sectionType":"section","heading":"Factors Acts Amendment Act 1878","content":"![Crest]()Western Australia\n\nFactors Acts Amendment Act 1878\n\nWestern Australia\n\nFactors Acts Amendment Act 1878\n\nContents\n\n1. Factors Acts defined 1\n\n2. Amendment of the law with respect to secret revocation of entrustment or agency 1\n\n3. With respect to vendors permitted to retain documents of title to goods 2\n\n4. With respect to vendees permitted to have possession of documents of title to goods 2\n\n5. With respect to transfers of documents of title 3\n\n6. Act not to be retrospective 3\n\n7. Short title 3\n\nNotes\n\nCompilation table 4\n\n  \n\nWestern Australia\n\nFactors Acts Amendment Act 1878\n\nAn Act to amend the Factors Acts\n\n[Assented to, 3rd July, 1878.]\n\nWhereas doubts have arisen with respect to the true meaning of certain provisions of the Factors Acts, and it is expedient to remove such doubts, and otherwise to amend the said Acts, for the better security of persons buying or making advances on goods, or documents of title to goods, in the usual and ordinary course of mercantile business; Be it enacted by His Excellency the Governor of Western Australia and its Dependencies, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council thereof, as follows: —\n\n##### 1. Factors Acts defined\n\nIN this Act the expression “the principal Acts” means the following Acts, that is to say: —\n\nThe Act of the 4th George 4th (1823), c.83.\n\nThe Act of the 6th George 4th (1825), c.94.\n\nThe Act of the 5th and 6th of Her Majesty (1842), c.39.\n\nAnd the said Acts and this Act may be cited for all purposes as “*The Factors Acts 1823 to 1878*.”\n\n##### 2. Amendment of the law with respect to secret revocation of entrustment or agency\n\nWHERE any agent or person has been entrusted with and continues in the possession of any goods, or documents of titles to goods, within the meaning of the principal Acts as amended by this Act, any revocation of his entrustment or agency shall not prejudice or affect the title or rights of any other person who, without notice of such revocation, purchases such goods, or makes advances upon the faith or security of such goods or documents.\n\n##### 3. With respect to vendors permitted to retain documents of title to goods\n\nWHERE any goods have been sold, and the vendor or any person on his behalf continues or is in the possession of the documents of title thereto, any sale, pledge, or other disposition of the goods or documents made by such vendor, or any person agent entrusted by the vendor with the goods or documents within the meaning of the principal Acts as amended by this Act so continuing or being in possession, shall be as valid and effectual as if such vendor or person were an agent or person entrusted by the vendee with the goods or documents within the meaning of the principal Acts as amended by this Act, provided the person to whom the sale, pledge, or other disposition is made has not notice that the goods have been previously sold.\n\n##### 4. With respect to vendees permitted to have possession of documents of title to goods\n\nWHERE any goods have been sold or contracted to be sold, and the vendee or any person on his behalf, obtains the possession of the documents of title thereto from the vendor or his agents, any sale, pledge, or disposition of such goods or documents by such vendee so in possession or by any other person or agent entrusted by the vendee with the documents within the meaning of the principal Acts as amended by this Act, shall be as valid and effectual as if such vendee or other person were an agent or person entrusted by the vendor with the documents within the meaning of the principal Acts as amended by this Act, provided the person to whom the sale, pledge, or other disposition is made has not notice of any lien or other right of the vendor in respect of the goods.\n\n##### 5. With respect to transfers of documents of title\n\nWHERE any document of title to goods has been lawfully endorsed or otherwise transferred to any person as a vendee or owner of the goods, and such person transfers such document by endorsement (or by delivery where the document is by custom or by its express terms transferable by delivery, or makes the goods deliverable to the bearer), to a person who takes the same *bona fide* and for valuable consideration, the last mentioned transfer shall have the same effect for defeating any vendor’s lien or right of stoppage *in transitu*, as the transfer of a bill of lading has for defeating the right of stoppage *in transitu*.\n\n##### 6. Act not to be retrospective\n\nThis Act shall apply only to acts done and rights acquired after the passing of this Act.\n\n##### 7. Short title\n\nThis Act may be cited as the *Factors Acts Amendment Act 1878*.\n\n[Section 7 amended: No. 81 of 1966 s.2.]\n\nNotes\n\n1 This is a compilation of the *Factors Acts Amendment Act 1878* and includes all amendments effected by the other Acts referred to in the following Table.\n\nCompilation table\n\n| **Short title** | **Number and year** | **Assent** | **Commencement** |\n| --- | --- | --- | --- |\n| *Factors Acts Amendment Act 1878* | 42 Vict. No. 3 | 3 Jul 1878 | 3 Jul 1878 |\n| *Statute Law Revision (Short Titles) Act 1966* | 81 of 1966 | 12 Dec 1966 | 12 Dec 1966 |\n","sortOrder":0}],"analysis":{"flash_summary_failed":{"failed":true,"reason":"A positive credit balance is required for all requests, including BYOK, so fallback providers remain available. Add credits at https://vercel.com/d?to=%2F%5Bteam%5D%2F%7E%2Fai%3Fmodal%3Dtop-up to continue.","source":"analysis-cron"},"issue_detection":{"absurdities":[],"contradictions":[]},"kimi_summary":{"content_quality":"ok","complexity_score":4,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"The legislation remains tightly focused on its original purpose: clarifying and amending the Factors Acts regarding mercantile transactions involving goods and documents of title. The 1966 amendment only updated the short title citation mechanism, leaving the substantive commercial law provisions unchanged from 1878."},"complexity_factors":["Dense 19th-century legislative drafting style with minimal punctuation and long conditional clauses","Four layers of cross-referencing: amends three earlier British Acts (1823, 1825, 1842) while being read as one with them","Requires understanding of several technical commercial law concepts: 'documents of title', 'lien', 'stoppage in transitu', 'bona fide purchaser', 'endorsement', 'pledge'","Nested conditional logic in sections 3 and 4 with multiple provisos ('provided that...') creating exceptions to the main rule","Assumes familiarity with agency law principles (entrustment, revocation, notice) without defining them","Only 7 sections but each packs multiple substantive amendments into single paragraphs"],"plain_english_summary":"This 1878 Western Australian law fixes a loophole in older British laws (the 'Factors Acts') that govern how people buy and sell goods through middlemen (agents or 'factors').\n\n**The problem it solves:**\nBefore this law, if you gave goods to an agent to sell, you could secretly cancel their authority, then sue anyone who later bought from that agent—even though the buyer had no idea you'd cancelled the deal. This created uncertainty for honest buyers and lenders in normal business transactions.\n\n**What it does:**\n- **Protects innocent buyers and lenders:** If you buy goods or lend money secured against goods from someone who looks like they have proper authority, you're protected—even if the owner secretly cancelled that person's authority behind the scenes. You just need to be acting honestly and without knowledge of the secret cancellation.\n\n- **Covers document swaps:** It protects people who deal with 'documents of title'—legal papers that represent ownership of goods (like bills of lading for shipped cargo). If someone holds these documents, they can sell or pledge the goods, and honest buyers are protected.\n\n- **Handles tricky sale situations:**\n  - If a seller keeps hold of the documents after selling goods, but then tries to sell them again, an innocent second buyer is protected (Section 3).\n  - If a buyer gets the documents but the seller still has some claim (like a lien—basically a right to hold goods until paid), an innocent person dealing with the buyer is protected (Section 4).\n  - If documents get transferred through endorsement (like signing over a cheque), the transfer works to defeat the original seller's rights to stop goods in transit, just like with bills of lading (Section 5).\n\n**Who it affects:**\nMerchants, banks, shipping companies, and anyone buying goods or lending money secured against goods or documents of title in ordinary commercial dealings.\n\n**Key limitation:**\nThe law only applies to transactions happening after 3 July 1878—it doesn't rewrite history."},"flash_summary":{"complexity_score":5,"scope_assessment":{"changed":true,"description":"The Act narrows prior uncertainty by extending clear statutory protection to bona fide purchasers and lenders who deal with agents, vendors or vendees in possession of documents of title, and by treating lawful endorsements or deliveries of documents of title like bills of lading for defeating vendor’s lien or stoppage in transitu. Its effect is prospective only (ss 2–6)."},"complexity_factors":["Cross-reference to multiple earlier statutes ('the principal Acts') requires reading this Act together with prior Factors Acts (s 1).","Key rules hinge on the factual standard of notice ('without notice'), creating evidentiary and adjudicative complexity about actual and constructive notice (ss 2–4).","The Act treats vendors and vendees who retain or obtain documents of title as if they were agents for transfer purposes, changing who can validly sell, pledge or dispose of goods or documents (ss 3–4).","Section 5 imports the bill-of-lading rule to other documents of title (endorsement/delivery, bearer transfers) for defeating vendor’s lien and stopping-in-transit, requiring interplay with carriage and negotiable-document doctrines (s 5).","Prospective-only operation limits applicability to post-enactment acts and rights, adding a temporal boundary to disputes (s 6).","Use of older legal terms ('entrustment', 'stoppage in transitu', 'documents of title') and concise drafting increases reliance on judicial interpretation and historical doctrinal rules.","Interactions with property rights (vendor’s lien) and commercial credit create distributional effects: who pays depends on notice and form of transfer (ss 2–5)."],"plain_english_summary":"Mechanically, this Act clarifies the Factors Acts to protect people who, without notice of a revocation, buy goods or advance money relying on goods or documents of title, and to treat certain vendor/vendee transfers and endorsements as effective against a vendor’s lien or stoppage in transitu (ss 2–5). It affects buyers, lenders, vendors, vendees and agents by allocating loss to those who have notice and increasing certainty for bona fide transferees; it applies only to rights acquired after the Act (s 6)."},"summary":{"complexity_score":2,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"Scope cannot be assessed — the legislative text is entirely unavailable due to the webpage being removed from the Western Australian legislation website. No comparison between original intent and final form is possible."},"complexity_factors":["No substantive legal text is available for analysis — the source page has been taken down","Historical 19th-century legislative language would typically be archaic and dense if retrieved","Factors Acts law involves nuanced commercial agency concepts that can be technically complex","Score is kept low because no actual content could be assessed"],"plain_english_summary":"Amendment to the Western Australian Factors Acts (1878) — updates earlier rules about mercantile agents (brokers/agents) and when third parties dealing in good faith can acquire valid title to goods despite an agent’s excess of authority. It would have mattered to merchants, agents, buyers and creditors at the time but is likely superseded, repealed or of limited practical relevance today."}},"importantCases":[],"_links":{"self":"/api/acts/factors-acts-amendment-act-1878","history":"/api/acts/factors-acts-amendment-act-1878/history","analysis":"/api/acts/factors-acts-amendment-act-1878/analysis","conflicts":"/api/acts/factors-acts-amendment-act-1878/conflicts","importantCases":"/api/acts/factors-acts-amendment-act-1878/important-cases","documents":"/api/acts/factors-acts-amendment-act-1878/documents"}}