Transfer of Property Act, 1882 · Chapter VIII: Of Transfers of Actionable Claims
Section 137: Saving of negotiable instruments, etc
In plain words
This Chapter on actionable claims does not apply to stocks, shares or debentures, to negotiable instruments, or to mercantile documents of title to goods such as bills of lading, warehouse receipts and railway receipts.
A simplified explanation, prepared with AI assistance from the official text below and checked automatically against it for numbers and cross-references. The official text is the law and prevails over this summary. Not legal advice.
Official text
Nothing in the foregoing sections of this Chapter applies to stocks, shares or debentures, or to instruments which are for the time being, by law or custom, negotiable, or to any mercantile document of title to goods.
Explanation.— The expression "mercantile document of title to goods" includes a bill of lading, dock-warrant, warehouse-keeper's certificate, railway receipt, warrant or order for the delivery of goods, and any other document used in the ordinary course of business as proof of the possession or control of goods, or authorising or purporting to authorise, either by endorsement or by delivery, the possessor of the document to transfer or receive goods thereby represented.]
Source: India Code (indiacode.gov.in), the consolidated text published by the Legislative Department, Government of India. Text as updated on India Code on 15 October 2026. Words in square brackets [ ] were inserted or substituted by later amending Acts, and *** marks words omitted by an amendment. The amendment footnotes are not reproduced here. Official text on India Code.