The judgment of the Court of Appeal in Barber v. NWS Bank 1 appears simply to confirm the principle that it is fundamental to any business or consumer transaction that the seller genuinely has the right to sell the goods on offer. If it is found months or years later that the goods in fact belong to another, the purchaser can rescind the contract and recover all of the payments which he has made on the basis that there has been a total failure of consideration.2 Yet the case is worth considering further because a number of issues remained unexplored and the interpretation given to an express term reserving title was surprising.