Hire-Purchase Act 1964

24 Interpretation of Part I

(1) In this Part of this Act " notice of cancellation " has the meaning assigned to it by section 4(2) of this Act.

(2) In this Part of this Act " antecedent negotiations ", in relation to a hire-purchase agreement or credit-sale agreement, means any negotiations or arrangements with the hirer or buyer whereby he was induced to make the agreement or which otherwise promoted the transaction to which the agreement relates; and any reference in this Part of this Act to the person by whom any antecedent negotiations were conducted is a reference to the person by whom the negotiations or arrangements in question were conducted or made in the course of a business carried on by him.

(3) The last preceding subsection—

(a) shall have effect in relation to a document to which section 4 of this Act applies, but which does not constitute a hire-purchase agreement or credit-sale agreement, as if references to the agreement and to making the agreement were references respectively to the document and to signing the document and any reference to the hirer or buyer were a reference to the prospective hirer or buyer (within the meaning of that section), and

(b) for the purposes of section 11(3) of this Act, shall have effect in relation to any offer to enter into a hire-purchase agreement or credit-sale agreement as if any reference to the agreement were a reference to the offer and any reference to the hirer or buyer were a reference to the person making the offer.

(4) Expressions to which a meaning is assigned by section 4 of this Act have the same meanings in sections 5 to 9 and section 11(1) of this Act as in the said section 4.

(5) For the purposes of this Part of this Act any negotiations conducted, or arrangements or representations made, by a servant or agent, if conducted or made by him in the course of his employment or agency, shall be treated as conducted or made by his employer or principal; and anything received by a servant or agent, if received by him in the course of his employment or agency, shall be treated as received by his employer or principal.

In this subsection " representations " has the same meaning as in section 10 of this Act, and references to making representations shall be construed accordingly.

(6) Section 21(1) of the principal Act (which defines certain expressions used in that Act) and section 3(1) of the Hire-Purchase Act 1954 (which provides that any deposit shall form part of the hire-purchase price) shall have effect for the purposes of this Part of this Act as they have effect for the purposes of the principal Act; and section 21(2) of the principal Act (which relates to the discharge of part of the hire-purchase price otherwise than by the payment of money) shall apply for the purposes of sections 18 and 19 of this Act.

(7) Without prejudice to the application, by virtue of the last preceding subsection, of the definition of " hire-purchase agreement " in section 21(1) of the principal Act, any reference in this Part of this Act to a document which constitutes a hire-purchase agreement or a credit-sale agreement shall be construed as including a reference to a document which together with one or more other documents constitutes such an agreement, and any reference to a document which, if executed by or on behalf of another person, would constitute such an agreement shall be construed accordingly.