You have learnt that both these rights can be exercised when the property in goods has passed to the buyer and the buyer has not yet paid the price in full. Though the two rights are similar in these respects, there are some important differences between the two, they are as follows:
The principal points of difference among these rights of an unpaid seller are as follows:
1. The seller’s lien attaches when the purchaser is in default, whether or not he is solvent or bankrupt. The right of stoppage in transit arises best while the customer is bankrupt.
2. Lien is to be held only when the goods are in actual possession of the seller at the same time as the right of stoppage is available, when the seller has half part with his own and the products are within the custody of an independent service.
3. The right of lien comes as soon as the seller has possession over the products to the carrier for the motive of transmission to the purchaser.
On the other hand, the right of stoppage in transit starts after the seller has introduced the goods to a carrier for the purposes of transmission to the buyer and maintains until the customer has acquired the ownership. The right of lien includes preserving the possession of the goods when the right of stoppage includes regaining ownership of the goods.
From the above you must have noted that the right of stoppage in transit commences from the time when the seller delivers the goods to an independent carrier or bailee, in this sense the right of stoppage in transit begins when the right of lien ends. It is because of this it is said that the right of stoppage in transit is an extension of the right of lien.
