What Is Symbolic And Constructive Delivery?

Symbolic delivery refers to the delivery of goods by way of gift or sale when it is either inaccessible or cumbersome. Goods under symbolic delivery are offered through a substitute article that indicates the donative's intent of the donor or seller and is accepted as the representative of the original item.

Constructive delivery (called also symbolic delivery) is a substitute (or is an equivalent) of real delivery. It is a term used when the item was not supplied itself but the symbol or sign of it is delivered. Real (actual, physical, manual) delivery is an opposed term to constructive delivery.

A case of delivery by proxy or acknowledgment, for example, will be a constructive delivery. If you pick up a parcel on your friend's behalf and agree to hold on to it for him, that's a constructive delivery.