Goods, Unascertained

When buyer and seller negotiate an agreement where one party sells some goods to another party, the goods may exist or be future goods, specific or unascertained. Unascertained goods are those that do not currently exist and will need to be manufactured or acquired by the seller in the future to fulfil the agreement. For instance, if you engaged me to attend an auction and buy a horse on your behalf, the horse would be a future good and also specific, as the horse exists and we have both agreed upon a specific horse to purchase. If you engaged me to acquire a foal that had not yet been born, the foal would be a future good and unascertained. The significance is that in some jurisdictions property can only pass when the goods are ascertained.