Also known as: goods & chattels · chattels · personal property
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A category of tangible movable personal property other than money or real estate. The phrase identifies items capable of physical possession and asportation that qualify as subjects of common-law theft offenses and related property doctrines.
Gordon Gray enters a rival firm's unlocked storage room and carries away two laptop computers and a printer belonging to Global Dynamics. The items qualify as goods and chattels because they are tangible personal property capable of being taken and carried away. The trespassory taking with intent to deprive permanently satisfies the elements for common-law larceny.
Grace Gupta notices a trespasser attempting to break into her warehouse containing crates of electronics. She enters the adjacent lot to block access and safeguard the crates. The crates constitute her chattels, permitting the limited entry under the privilege to prevent harm to personal property.
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Federal agents seize Gerald Gibson's warehouse inventory of allegedly counterfeit watches without prior notice. The watches are movable personal property subject to forfeiture. Due process permits the pre-hearing seizure of such goods and chattels when later safeguards are available.
Gateway Bank attempts to perfect a security interest by describing the collateral simply as all of Gabriella Gomez's personal property. The description fails to identify specific goods and chattels with reasonable particularity, rendering the financing statement ineffective.
Georgia Gibbs holds identified furniture in storage under a contract to deliver it to Gwen Gallagher. Gallagher later tells Gibbs she no longer wants the items. The assent discharges Gibbs's duty to transfer the goods and chattels without further consideration.
After the decedent's death the personal representative demands delivery of household furnishings and tools from the presumptive heir. The items are tangible personal property that the representative may seize when needed for estate administration.
Goods and chattels are limited to tangible personal property that is capable of being possessed and has some value. Real property and its fixtures cannot be the subject of larceny at common law.
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No. The phrase refers only to tangible movable items. Intangibles such as contract rights or accounts fall outside the definition.
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Movable personal property can be quickly removed, hidden, or destroyed. Due process therefore permits pre-hearing seizure when justified by the circumstances, provided prompt post-seizure safeguards follow.
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Such a description fails to reasonably identify the collateral. A financing statement using only broad language like all personal property is insufficient for perfection.
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…to be that, wherein he that doth it, kills himself out of a premeditated hatred against his own life or other humor:. . . his goods and chattels are the king's custom, but not his debts nor lands; but in case he be an infant, a lunatic, mad or distracted man, he forfeits nothing." Virginia also required ignominious burial for…