Sample

A small quantity of any commodity or merchandise, exhibited as a specimen of a larger quantity called the bulk. A part shown as a specimen.

Webber v. Com., 33 Gratt (Va.) 909.

When a sale is made by sample, the vendor warrants the quality of the bulk to be equal to that of the sample; Benj. Sales § 648; and if it afterwards turn out that the bulk does not correspond with the sample, the purchaser is not, in general, bound to take the property on a compensation being made to him for the difference; 1 Camp. 113.

See Sands v. Taylor, 5 Johns. (N. Y.) 395, 4 Am. Dec. 374; Bor rekins v. Bevan, 3 Rawle (Pa.) 37, 23 Am. Dec. 85; 14 M. & W. 651.

It is held that the vendor does not warrant goods, as fit for a particular purpose; Kauffman Milling Co. v. Stuckey, 37 S. C. 7, 16 S. E. 192. To constitute a sale by “sample,” the contract must be made solely with reference to the sample; Bradford v. Manly, 13 Mass. 139, 7 Am. Dec. 122. Not every sale where a sample is shown is a sale by sample; there must be an understanding, expressed or implied, that the sale is by sample; Barnard v. Kellogg, 10 Wall. (U. S.) 3S3, 19 L. Ed. 987; Gunther v. Atwell, 19 Md. 157. The mere exhibition of a sample is but a representation that it has been fairly taken from the full; Hargous v. Stone, 5 N. Y. 73. In Pennsylvania it has been held that in the absence of fraud or representation as to the quality, a anty that the goods shall be similar in kind and merchantable; Boyd v. Wilson, 83 Pa. 319, 24 Am. Rep. 176; but the rule was changed by statute in 1887, the decision having been unsatisfactory to the profession and the public. Although goods sold by sample are not in general deemed to be sold with an implied warranty that they were merchantable, the facts and circumstances may justify the inference that this implied warranty is superadded to the contract; L. It. 4 Ex. 49. If a manufacturer agrees to furnish goods according to sample, the sample is to be considered as if free from any secret defect of manufacture not discoverable on inspection, and unknown to both parties; L. R. 7 C. P. 438; but if the sale is made by a merchant, who is not a manufacturer, there is no implied warranty against secret defects; Dickinson v. Gay, 7 Allen (Mass.) 29, 83 Am. Dec. 65G. It is an implied condition in a sale by sample that the buyer shall have a fair opportunity of comparing the bulk with the sample, and an improper refusal by the vendor to allow this will justify the buyer in rejecting the contract; 1 B. & G. 1.

See Benj. Sales § 649; Sales; Warranty.