cases between .1:1111u ....- ~ohllll.

lP' " dt'\l\S, '' I' \Pl'"';"'

ans- For Mohammedans, 1\1 h a.1111110 ' d to b\i> l
cases betwee;een Hindus and o continllO
In cases bet 1· d These laWS A l wl\S
d nt was app ie . cted, - ct nC
defen a t Act 1872 was ena h contfll It con·
till the Contrac ' 1872· In 1872, t e ber 1872,
tinent of Contract Act, · l SepteJll
5. £nae d It became enforceable frorn ndrnents.
en acte • . t till date with
. vario · us arne
tinues to exis 11:E
. oEsoF'f
ROMISE AND CONTRACT -TWO SI -
12 2 p
· · s.AME co IN ·
rne coin.
sides of the sa rr,,-
. ' nd 'contract' are said to be the two t as ever'!/ pro
'Pro1?11se2(:) of the Contract Act, 1872 state~ agre~mefor each other. It
section et o-r promises .that forms a consideration t· 1 £or the forrna-
. e or a s u
is
f ·
th t the presence o a promise is q· uintessen 1a 1
'
a contract.
rneans a eement that if legally enforceable, becomes
tion of an agr '
-a.A el
• • . b t r more parties
For making an agreement, there must e wo o ther
1. . . t k /an to ano
and one of the parties mus ma e a _
party.
n Manusmriti, who were considered incompetent to the con-
2. I
'r e able tract.
rithin a a. Dependents
·actual)
b. Minors
~loped. c. Persons devoid of limbs
for the d. All of these
; could
tnsfer-
I.&\ ACTIVITY
ations
Titten Using the Internet, study the Contract Act, 1872 thoroughly and
analyse the rationale of the law.
r was
1rno11
rts of
ill CLASSIFICATION OF CONTRACTS
n the ~ontracts are categorised on the basis of their initiation, enforceabil-
ity, formation and performance. Let us discuss different categories of
contracts in detail.
~jotlS
dirig
}8\\1 l. 3,I ACCORDING TO INITIATION
drss Based on initiat.
,d tO CJ ion, contracts are classified as follows:
:ied-· Unilateral co t .
reciproc f n ract: It 1s an offer made by a party without any
a ion from another. On t.hP. fulfilment of conditions
 In the me d.
• d contracts were void if made un.c:1
1eval per10 '
f'damdupat', accord'1ng to which th ~l' l.\i-
l""51 b tw
The ru1e o bl t t. . <\ ·1, For cases e
influence. d 1·nterest recovera e a one ime in a h.1. ~ t:ii. ans- between Mo\1
of principal an th n double the money lent, was also f ~\:l cases between
couldn't be more a <:>llt \ 1 cases ,
rule in India, contracts were \ n dant was ap
. the Mugh a1 fC . g<:>y defen Contract A
Durm~ h Mohammedan Law o ontract. In Ar h· \\\ till the
according tot et . hich literally means conjunction. A.qad1~,A
means. a contrac w
.
h.. ,
f roposal (ljab) and acceptance (Qabul) ·•11!~ 5. ._. acted. It ec ·r·
cnac
ttnent of Co
b aI1
a combination o p . . en t 0 e:Kist t1 .
tract (Rome): Romans recognised vario tinl.les
2 Earlylawof con . . d h . ll.st
• . The Roman law recognise t at promise itself ISE Ar--
of pro?11ses. nL'orceable duty.. Romans also recognised 'tt\i~ ., . pttONI OIN
give rise to an e ll . I ·1 't th~ 1.2.~ s~E C
. t legally enforceab e unh 1 was conside at
Promise• was noI contract or consensua
. 1 contract. rec1
. ' and 'contr
stipulation, rea ,promise ( ) of the C
contract (England): There were two assun-. . n2 e
3 EarI y I aw of . E 1 ••tPti sectJO set of pro711
· . b mmon law courts (courts 1n ng and) in the
given Y co . - h . lller1 i5e or a.that the prei
. s The first assumption was t at promises Wer means greeme1
eval t1me • . ld e g~ tion of an a
erally enforceable and then exceptions_ cou not be created:
promise• s that were not desirable. for being enforced. The see i. SELFASSE
0 i,.

mption was that promises were generally unenforceabl ·1

assu L' • h ea~ For making
then exceptions were created ~or pro~is~s t at were desirable 1. and one of
enforce. The courts in th~se times ~eheved that a mere Pro~
party.
did not give.rise to _an action.
In the 15th and 16th cei:itu~ies, common _law cour~s were ab\ 2 _ In Manus1
tract. ·
to develop a general cntenon for enforcing promises within,
framework. Two forms of . action for enforcing (contractu~ a. Depe11
rights, namely 'debt' and 'covenant' were-developed. b. Mino1
In the 16th century, the concept of 'assumpsit' was developeQ_ c. Perso
Assumpsit was an implied promi_se on wh~ch an action for th; d. All ol
recovery of damages caused due to the breach of contract coul\
be taken. In the 17th and 18th centuries, concepts such as transfei.
ability of contract rights were recognised. Also, some legislatio~.
were passed that required some contracts to be in the written Using the 11
form. ·
analyse the
4. English Law_in India:· In India, the formal contract· 1aw wi
introduced with the rule of Englishmen. The English common CLJ
law and statute law came in India with the Chartered Courtsd.
the 18th century. Various Courts of Justice were established in thi Contracts a1
presid~ncy towns of Calcutta, Madras and Bombay. ity, formatic
contracts ir
!he English law was applied across India, which led to vari~UI,
in_conveniences to the indigenous population of India includini 1.3 . 1 AC(
Hmdus and Mohammedans. To handle this situation, the
gave powers to the Supreme Court located at Calcutta, Mad Basedoni
and B b · 1 ted to
om ay to determine the type, actions and suits re a ed-. Cl Unila1
contractual nature in cases related to Hindus and MohatnJ11 : recipr
~ . lfllllT IS ENFORCEABILITY OF AN AGREEMENT?
.>n. "o'r
""- ~E:) baS already been defined that an agreement is an important part of a
.Pi- It tract. An agreement becomes a contract when it becomes enforce-
0 ~. ,, con
ble by law. When a co~ t ract involves
. .
offer, acceptance and consider-
8 t. n it is enforceable 1n the court of law. A detailed explanation of
affiior 'and cons1'd era t·ion 1s
. given
. 1ater in the chapter. Enforceability is
oh \ecourse available if all the essentials of the Contract Act, 1872 are
t dhered
e to prov1'de pro t ec t·ion against
· the breach of contract by any of
8 .
the parties.
. .1 CONTRACTS - HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
12
The law governing contracts in India is the Indian Contract Act, 1872
me into force on 1 September 1872. Since then, the Indian Contract

ctcce
..;
,.,Se
1)~
:~t
': t 1872 has been amended from time to time by the Central Govern-
rn
and the state governments as per the state .requirements.
.
Q.-nd The Contract Act, 1872 d~fines the meaning of contracts, their execu-
tion and implementation in addition to describing the provisions for
the breach of contracts. The Contract Act, 1872 that we see today has
been developed into its ·current state by going through a lot of trans-
formation. The different phases through which _the Contract Act, 1872
has passed to reach its current shape are explained a5. follows:
1. Early and medieval period (Vedic and medieval period and
Islamic law): There was no general rule governing contracts in
the ancient and medieval periods in India. However, the princi-
ples mentioned within various scriptures, such as Vedas, Dharm-
shastras, Smritis and Shrutis, mention laws similar to contracts.
on to
Various studies have revealed that contracts originated in the
g the
Vedic period. These scriptures mention various transactions DIDYO
that are similar to contracts, such as debt deposit, pledges, sale The Arthashas1
D. without ownership, rnortgage, gifts, etc. These scriptures men- Indian Sanskri1
tion various rules of contracts , that are similar to the Modern · statecraft, eco
Law of Contract. As an example, Manusmriti mentions that the military strate!
identified as C
competence of parties is the first requirement for the formation this treatise 2i
; an of a contract. In Manusmriti, dependents, minors and persons
devoid of Hmbs were considered incompetent to the contract.
Vedic scriptures also mention the concept of liability.
wo
In medieval times,. the law of contract was governed by moral
NOTE
and economic factors and activities. Contracts were made for
business and commercial transactions, such as trans£er, of prop-
erty, performance of services, etc., on the basis of agreements
and promises. Another important medieval scripture to mention
contracts is the _Kautilya's Arthashastra.

+ Contracts
. were a Iso made ·during
· the Mauryan period and
involved free consent and consensus.