ABSTRACT

A asks B to buy his car for Rs. 2,00,000, this is a proposal made by A to B which when accepted
by B becomes a promise. This promise is called an agreement which is established between A
and B which when comprises of a lawful consideration, between two parties who are
competent to contract and thus their consents are free for a lawful object and therefore is
enforceable by law becomes a contract. This paper talks about one of the essentials of forming
a contract given in Sec.10 of Indian Contract Act, 1872, i.e., free consent. Firstly this paper talks
about how the consent can be free. For consent to be free it is important that it is not caused
by coercion, undue influence, fraud, misrepresentation and mistake. Secondly, it talks about
certain provisions which make the existence of these elements unlawful and then certain
exceptions that do not recognise these elements as unlawful. It essentially covers the field of
mere silence. In case of fraud, mere silence does not amounts to fraud unless there is a duty to
speak on the part of the party or his silence itself amounts to speech. In this context this paper
has been provided with the provisions related to different countries on how mere silence
amounts to fraud and also the recent case laws which deals with fraud.