UNIVERSITY OF PETROLEUM & ENERGY STUDIES

COLLEGE OF LEGAL STUDIES

B.B.A LL.B (HONS.)

SEMESTER I

ACADEMIC YEAR: 2016-2017 SESSION: JULY- NOVEMBER

SYNOPSIS ON

STATUS OF QUASI-CONTRACT IN ENGLISH LAW AND IN INDIAN LAW

Under the Supervision of: Dr. SUJATA BALI

SUMBITTED BY-SHUBHAM RATHORE1

ROLL NO. - R2760216113

1
BBA L.L.B Hons. (corporate law) b-2

SAP-ID – 500053215
 I. Background:
The Indian Contract Act, 1872, in Section 2 clause (h) defines term “contract” as “An
agreement enforceable by Law is a contract”. Thus for the formation of a contract there
must be an agreement, and the agreement should be enforceable by law. To be
enforceable by law, a contract must contain all the essential elements of a valid contract
as defined in Section 10 of the Indian Contract Act.

As per what quasi contracts are, quasi-contracts can be defined as, a transaction in which
there is no contract between the parties; this can be interpreted as “An obligation
imposed by law on parties because of relationship between parties or because one of
them would otherwise be unjustly enriched. So basically it’s not a contract but a remedy
for the plaintiff. Now the English law identified quasi-contractual obligations first, and so
the framers of The Indian Contract Act modified it and placed it as- “certain relations
resembling those created by contracts”2. Therefore, the elements that are present in the
English quasi-contract are somewhat also found in that of the Indian Contract Act.

Statement of problem

In this project I would concentrate on the correlation between the status of quasi-
contracts according to the English law and The Indian law with their usage. While taking
the help of case laws, jurists and statutes of both the scenarios.

Survey of existent literature

1. CONTRACT & SPECIFIC RELIEF (10th edition) Avtar Singh
This book gives us the definitions of prominent jurists and also states the usage of
quasi-contracts through ample of case laws, which can be considered for both English
law and Indian law.

2
Internet research
 2. Pollock and Mulla (14th edition)
This book states the definitions of quasi-contracts as given by English jurists which
also help define the status of quasi-contracts in Indian law and it also provides us with
case studies on various matters which help understand it’s status in both the laws.
3. History of English law vol. 8 by Sir William Holdsworth
this book gives the theories of quasi-contracts as it was first formed so it is
exclusively meant for defining the concept of quasi-contracts as per the English law.

I. Objective and Scope of the research:

the following research has been conducted to highlight the comparison between the
status of quasi-contracts as per the English law and The Indian law with their
implementations.

II. Research methodology adopted:

The researcher is mainly relying on the information available on various websites, online
newspapers, journals, books, case laws. The research methodology for the project is
doctrinal as well as descriptive in nature. The source of knowledge for this project
includes primary as well as secondary resources.

III. Probable Outcome:

After this project I would be able to know the concept of quasi-contracts. This project will also
provide explanation about the status and the comparison of quasi-contracts in English law and
the Indian law and get to learn about various famous case studies related to quasi-contracts.
Scheme of chapters:
1. Introduction
2. Status of quasi contracts in Indian law
3. Status of quasi-contracts in English law
4. Comparison of quasi contracts in English law and in the Indian law
5. Conclusion
6. Bibliography