Consignment


A contract in which goods are delivered to a dealer, who then becomes the sales agent, empowered to sell the goods, and return the proceeds, less commissions, to the principal.


 Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

CONSIGNMENT (from consign, Fr. consigner, Lat. consignare, to affix asignum, seal; whence, in Late Lat., to hand over, transmit), generally, the delivery or transmission of any person or thing for safe custody, e.g. of a malefactor to prison, or of a horse to the care of a groom. In law, consignment is used of the sending or transmitting of goods to a merchant or factor for sale. The person who consigns the goods is called the consignor, and the person residing at the port of delivery or elsewhere to whom the goods are to be delivered when they arrive there is called the consignee. See further Affreightment.