Gold - Definition - Law Dictionary Home Dictionary Definition gold

Definition :

Gold. As to the duty of the Bank of England under the Coinage Act, 1870 (33 & 34 Vict. c. 10), s. 8, to coin gold bullion for any person bringing the same for that purpose, which was suspended by the Gold Standard Act, 1925 (15 & 16 Geo. 5, c. 29); and the Bank's duty during the period of suspense, to sell gold bullion in bars containing approximately 400 ounces troy of fine gold to any purchaser paying '3 17s. 10'd. per ounce troy of fine gold, see those Acts, and CURRENCY ACT. The right to purchase gold provided by the Act of 1925 was suspended by the Gold Standard (Amendment) Act, 1931 (21 & 22 Geo. 5, c. 46) (see BULLION). As to standards and marking of gold plate and gold ware, see Safford, 'Law of Merchandise Acts.'

A promise to repay a loan or other obligation in terms of 'gold' depends for its performance on the law of the country governing the performance at the time of performance, see Feist v. Societe Inter-communale Belge d' Electricite, 1934, AC 161.

It includes gold in the form of coin, whether legal tender or not, or in the form of bullion or ingot, whether refined or not. [Banking Regulation Act, 1949 (10 of 1949), s. 5 (g)]

The word 'gold' covers not only gold which is lawfully possessed but gold in any form or shape and whether possessed lawfully or otherwise, Arvind Mohan Sinha v. Amulya Kumar Biswas, AIR 1974 SC 1818 (1822): (1974) 4 SCC 222: (1974) 3 SCR 133.

The word 'gold' is defined in clause (c) of the explanation to Rule 126A of the Gold Control Rules, 1963 to mean gold, including its alloy, whether virgin, melted, remelted, wrought or unwrought, in any shape or form, of a purity of not less than nine carats and includes any gold coin (whether legal tender or not), any ornament and any other article of gold. This definition odes not restrict the meaning of the word 'gold' to legal or non-smuggled gold. It is wide enough to include any kind of gold, whether smuggled or non-smuggled, Triveni Prasad Ramkaran Verma v. State of Maharashtra, AIR 1976 SC 2156: (1977) 1 SCC 114: (1977) 1 SCR 519.