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Formation of Contract: Pooja Agrawat Assistant Professor Lovely Professional University
Formation of Contract: Pooja Agrawat Assistant Professor Lovely Professional University
Formation of Contract: Pooja Agrawat Assistant Professor Lovely Professional University
Pooja Agrawat
Assistant Professor
Lovely Professional University
• By Charter of 1661 and 1726 English Law had a deep
impact on the Indian Legal system.
• Whenever the Indian Law was deficient or wanting-
English Law was applied
• In 1774 the Mayor’s court at Calcutta was replaced
by Supreme Court.
• The regulating Act of 1773 and the Charter of 1774
were silent as to the law which the Supreme Court
was to apply to Indians
• It was directed that questions of inheritance and
succession and all matters of contract and dealing
between the parties should be determined
• In case of Mahomedans and Hindus by their
respective laws
• And where only one of the parties should be a
Mahomedan or Hindu by the laws and usages of the
defendant.
• This system continued upto the enactment of the
Indian Contract Act, 1872.
Section 1
• This Act may be called the Indian Contract Act, 1872.
• Extent, commencement-
• It extends to the whole of India 1[except the State of
Jammu and Kashmir];
• and it shall come into force on the first day of September,
1872.
• Enactments repealed- 2[ * * *] Nothing herein contained
shall affect the provisions of any Statute, Act or Regulation
not hereby expressly repealed, nor any usage or custom or
trade, nor any incident of any contract, not inconsistent
with the provisions of this Act.
Scope of the Act
• The Contract Act does not profess to be a
complete code dealing with the law relating to
Contracts.
• The Act purports to do no more than define and
amend certain parts of that law.
• Third clause of section 1 saves the provisions of
other statutes, regulations, customs of trade and
incidents of any contract, which are not
inconsistent with the provisions of this act.
• The Act deals with particular contracts in
separate chapters, but the legislature has not
dealt exhaustively with any particular chapter or
sub-division of the law relating to contracts.
• To the extent that this Act deals with a particular
subject, it is exhaustive and it is not permissible
to import the principles of English law
independent of the statutory provisions
contained in this Act.
• Contract Act is not retrospective in nature.
2. Interpretation-clause
• Jones v. Padavatton(1969)
• The daughter acting on her mother’s promise left her
service and gone to another country for education.
• The mother undertook to foot the expenses.
• For five long years the daughter could not complete her
education.
• Differences arose between them and the mother stopped
the payments.
• Held: engagement was contract but only for a period
reasonable to complete education and the period of five
years was more than sufficient for the purpose.
3. Express or Implied Offer
4. Certainty of Offer
The terms of the offer must be certain and not
vague (Sec 29)
Eg. A agrees to sell to B “ my white horse for Rs
500 or Rs 1000”.
Not a valid offer
Eg: I will buy one of your houses if I can afford it.
Not a valid offer
• 5. Communication of Offer
• Signify means that the proposal must be communicated to the other
party.
• The court observed that the defendants gave only the lowest price
and did not express their willingness to sell.
• No offer was made.
• The plaintiffs last telegram was an offer to buy, but that was never
accepted by the defendants.
Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain v. Boots Cash
Chemists( Southern) Ltd. (1953)
Facts
• The defendant ran a self-service shop in which non-
prescription drugs and medicines, many of which were
listed in the Poisons List provided in the Pharmacy and
Poisons Act 1933, were sold.
• These items were displayed in open shelves from which
they could be selected by the customer, placed in a
shopping basket, and taken to the till where they would be
paid for.
• The till was operated by a registered pharmacist.
• The plaintiff picked up a bottle of medicine from the
shelves of the defendant’s shop with the intention of
buying it, but the defendant refused to sell it.
• Observations: A shopkeeper’s catalogue of prices is not an offer, it is
only an invitation to the intending customers to offer to buy at the
indicated prices.
• Similarly the display of goods in a shop with price chits attached is
not an offer.
• In present case, the mere fact that the customer picks up a bottle of
medicine from the shelves does not amount to an acceptance of an
offer to sell.
• It is an offer by the customers to buy, and there is no sale effected
until the buyer’s offer to buy is accepted by the acceptance of the
price.
• Reason: limited stock
• Leaves the customer with no other option as he would never be
able to change his mind.
• Section 5: Revocation of Proposals and
acceptance.—
• A proposal may be revoked at any time before
the communication of its acceptance is complete
as against the proposer, but not afterwards.
• An acceptance may be revoked at any time
before the communication of the acceptance is
complete as against the acceptor, but not
afterwards.
Section 6: Revocation how made
A proposal is revoked—"(1) by the communication of
notice of revocation by the proposer to the other
party;
• (2)by the lapse of the time prescribed in such proposal
for its acceptance, or, if no time is so prescribed, by the
lapse of a reasonable time, without communication of
the acceptance;
• (3) by the failure of the acceptor to fulfill a condition
precedent to acceptance; or
• (4) by the death or insanity of the proposer, if the fact
of his death or insanity comes to the knowledge of the
acceptor before acceptance.
Acceptance
• Essential Requirements of a Valid acceptance
I. Communication of Acceptance
1. Acceptance express or implied
2. When communication not necessary
Section 8: Acceptance by performing conditions,
or receiving consideration.—Performance of the
conditions of a proposal, or the acceptance of
any consideration for a reciprocal promise which
may be offered with a proposal, is an
acceptance of the proposal.
• 3. Communication to offeror himself:
• Acceptance must be communicated to the offeror
himself.
• Felthouse v. Bindley (1863)
• The court laid down the following two propositions:
i. Acceptance of offer should be communicated to the
offeror himself or his authorized agent. A
communication to a stranger, like the auctioneer in
this case will not do
ii. An offeror can’t impose upon the offeree the burden
of refusal or duty to reply.
4. Communication by acceptor himself
Powell v. Lee (1908)
• The plaintiff was an applicant for the headmastership of a
school.
• The managers passed a resolution appointing him, but
the decision was not communicated to him.
• One of the members in his individual capacity informed
the plaintiff about his appointment.
• The managers cancelled their resolution and the plaintiff
sued for breach of contract.
• Held: no contract had come into existence as, information
from a unauthorized person is as insufficient as over-
hearing from behind the door.
• 5. Mode of Communication: Acceptance has to be made in the
manner prescribed or indicated by the offeror.
• Section 7: Acceptance must be absolute.—In order to convert a
proposal into a promise the acceptance must
• (1) be absolute and unqualified;
• (2) be expressed in some usual and reasonable manner,
• unless the proposal prescribes the manner in which it is to be
accepted.
• If the proposal prescribes a manner in which it is to be accepted,
and the acceptance is not made in such manner, the proposer may,
within a reasonable time after the acceptance is communicated to
him, insist that his proposal shall be accepted in the prescribed
manner, and not otherwise;
• but, if he fails to do so, he accepts the acceptance.
• 6. When Contract Concluded: When the
parties are in the presence of each other the
contract is concluded when acceptance is
communicated to the proposer.
Modes of communication of Acceptance