Mercantile Law Act 1936

Where a mercantile agent is, with the consent of the owner, in possession of goods or of the documents of title to goods, any sale, pledge, or other disposition of the goods made by him when acting in the ordinary course of business of a mercantile agent, shall, subject to sections 4 to 12 of this Act, be as valid as if he were expressly authorised by the owner of the goods to make that disposition: Provided that the person taking under the disposition acts in good faith, and has not at the time of the disposition notice that the person making the disposition, has not authority to make it.

Where a mercantile agent has, with the consent of the owner, been in possession of goods or of the documents of title to goods, any sale, pledge, or other disposition, which would have been valid if the consent had continued, shall be valid notwithstanding the determination of the consent: Provided that the person taking under the disposition has not at the time thereof notice that the consent has been determined.

Where a mercantile agent has obtained possession of any documents of title to goods by reason of his being or having been, with the consent of the owner, in possession of the goods represented thereby, or of any other documents of title to the goods, his possession of the first-mentioned documents shall, for the purposes of sections 4 to 12 of this Act, be deemed to be with the consent of the owner.

For the purposes of sections 4 to 12 of this Act the consent of the owner shall be presumed in the absence of evidence to the contrary.

This section does not operate to defeat a security interest that is the subject of a financing statement registered under the Personal Property Securities Act 2009 of the Commonwealth.

In subsection (5), security interest and financing statement have the same respective meanings as in the Personal Property Securities Act 2009 of the Commonwealth.