What is a contract?

A contract is an agreement that can be enforceable by law. An agreement is an offer and its
acceptance. An agreement which can be enforceable by law must have some essential elements.
According to Section 10 "All agreements are contracts if they are made by the free consent of the
parties competent to contract, for a lawful consideration and with a lawful object, and are not
hereby expressly declared to be void" As per the above section, a contract must have the
following elements.
1. Intention to create legal relationship.
2. Lawful object
3. Agreement not expressly declared void
4. Proper offer and it s acceptance
5. Free Consent
6. Capacity of parties to contract
7. Certainty of meaning.
8. Possibility of performance.
9. Lawful consideration
10. Legal formalities

Intention to create legal relationship: The parties entering into a contract must have an
intention to create a legal relationship. If there is no intention to create a legal relationship, that
agreement cannot be treated as a valid contract. Generally there is no intention to create a legal
relationship in social and domestic agreements. Invitation for lunch does not create a legal
relationship. Certain agreements and obligation between father and daughter, mother and son and
husband and wife does not create a legal relationship. An agreement wherein it is clearly
mentioned that "This agreement is not intended to create formal or legal agreement and shall not
be subject to legal jurisdiction in the law of courts." cannot be treated as a contract and not valid.
Lawful Object: The objective of the agreement must be lawful. Any act prohibited by law will
not be valid and such agreements cannot be treated as a valid contract. A rents out his house for
the business of prostitution or for making bomb, the acts performing there are unlawful. Hence
such agreement cannot be treated as a valid contract. Therefore the consideration as well as the
object of the agreement should be lawful.

Agreement not expressly declared void: Section 24 to 30 specify certain types of agreement
which have been expressly declared void. For example Restraint of marriage which has been
expressly declared void under Section 26. If John promises to pay $50 to Mary if she does not
marry throughout her life and Mary promise not to marry at all. But this agreement cannot be
treated as a valid contract owing to the fact that, under section 26 restraint of marriage expressly
declared void. Some of the agreement which have been expressly declared void are agreement in
restraint of legal proceedings, agreement in restraint of trade, agreement in restraint of
marriage and agreement by way of wager.
Proper offer and it s acceptance: To create a valid contract, there must be two or more parties.
One who makes the offer and the other who accepts the offer. One person cannot make an offer
and accept it. There must be at least two persons. Also the offer must be clear and properly
communicated to the other party. Similarly acceptance must be communicated to the other party
and the proper and unconditional acceptance must be communicated to the offerer. Proper offer
and proper acceptance should be there to treat the agreement as a contract which is enforceable
by law.
Free Consent: According to section 14, consent is said to be free when it is not caused by (i)
coercion, (ii) undue influence (iii) fraud, (iv) misrepresentation, or (v) mistake. If the contract
made by any of the above four reason, at the option of the aggrieved party it could be treated as a
void contract. If the agreement induced by mutual mistake the agreement would stand void or
canceled. An agreement can be treated as a valid contract when the consent of the parties are free
and not under any undue influence, fear or pressure etc. The consent of the parties must be
genuine and free consent.
Capacity of parties to contract: Parties entering into an agreement must be competent and
capable of entering into a contract. If "A" agrees to sell a Government property to B and B agrees
to buy that property, it could not treated as a valid agreement as A is not authorized or owner of
the property. If any of the party is not competent or capable of entering into the agreement, that
agreement cannot be treated as a valid contract. According to Section 11 of the Act which says
that every person is competent to contract who is of the age of majority according to the law to
which he is subject and who is of sound mind, and is not disqualified from contracting by any
law to which he is subject. So it is clear that the party must be of sound mind and of age to enter
into a valid agreement which can be treated as a valid contract.
Certainty of meaning: Wording of the agreement must be clear and not uncertain or vague.
Suppose John agrees to sell 500 tones of oil to Mathew. But, what kind of oil is not mentioned
clearly. So on the ground of uncertainty, this agreement stands void. If the meaning of the
agreement can be made certain by the circumstances, it could be treated as a valid contract. For
example, if John and Mathew are sole trader of coconut oil, the meaning of the agreement can be
made certain by the circumstance and in that case, the agreement can be treated as a valid
contract. According to Section 29 of the Contract Act says that Agreements, the meaning of
which is not certain or capable of being made certain, are void.
Possibility of performance: As per section 56, if the act is impossible of performance,
physically or legally, the agreement cannot be enforced by law. There must be possibility of

performance of the agreement. Impossible agreements like one claims to run at a speed of
1000km/hour or Jump to a height of 100feet etc. would not create a valid agreement. All such
acts which are impossible of performance would not create a valid contract and cannot treated as
a valid contract. In essence, there must be possibility of performance must be there to create a
valid contract.
Lawful consideration: An agreement must be supported by a consideration of something in
return. That is, the agreement must be supported by some type of service or goods in return of
money or goods. However, it is not necessary the price should be always in terms of money. It
could be a service or another goods. Suppose X agrees to buy books from Y for $50. Here the
consideration of X is books and the consideration of Y is $50. It can be a promise to act (doing
something) or forbearance (not doing something). The consideration may be present, future or
can be past. But the consideration must be real. For example If John agrees to sell his car of $
50000 to Peter for $20000. This is a valid contract if John agrees to sell his car not under any
influence or force. It can be valid only if the consideration of John is free. An agreement is valid
only when the acts are legal. Illegal works like killing another for money, or immoral works or
illegal acts are cannot be treated as a valid agreement. So, illegal works will not come under the
contract act.
Legal formalities: The contract act does not insist that the agreement must be in writing, it could
be oral. But, in some cases the law strictly insist that the agreement must be in writing like
agreement to sell immovable property must be in writing and should be registered under the
Transfer of Property Act, 1882. These agreement are valid only when they fulfill the formalities
like writing, registration, signing by the both the parties are completed. If these legal formalities
are not completed, it cannot be treated as a valid contract.
Most important essentials of a valid contract are mentioned above. These elements should be
present in a contract to make it a valid contract. If any one of them is missing we cannot treat
that agreement as a valid contract.