AGREEMENT VOID, IF CONSIDERATIONS AND OBJECTS UNLAWFUL IN PARTS

In the legal world, the word ‘agreement’ is used to mean a commitment/promise or a series
of reciprocal promises which constitutes consideration for the parties to contract. In an
agreement, one person offers or proposes something to another person, who in turn accepts
the same. In other words, offer plus acceptance amounts to the agreement, or we can say
that an accepted proposal is an agreement.

Characteristics of Agreement
The main characteristics of the agreement are discussed below:

• Plurality of Persons: To compose an agreement, at least two persons should be there,

as one person cannot make an agreement with himself/herself.
• Consensus ad idem: It is a Latin term, which implies “Concurrence of Minds”, i.e. in an
agreement there is a common understanding between the parties with respect to the
terms and conditions of the agreement.

This means that the parties to the agreement must agree upon the same thing in the same
sense, as it was intended, with respect to their corresponding rights and duties, concerning
the performance of promises in the past or future.

According to Section 23 of the Indian Contract Act, 1872 – “The consideration or object of an
agreement is lawful, unless- It is forbidden by law; or is of such a nature that, if permitted, it
would defeat the provisions of any law; or is fraudulent; or involves or implies injury to the
person or property of another; or the Court regards it as immoral, or opposed to public
policy”. In each of these cases, the consideration or object of an agreement said to be
unlawful. Every agreement of which the object or consideration is unlawful in the eye of law
is void.
Case law: BRIJ MOHAN VS M.P.S.R.T Co., 1987
The object of the agreement is the purpose or design for which agreement is being entered
into; it is a reason for the agreement. This is different from the constitution for the contract
Sometimes object and consideration of the agreement are the same but they may also be
distinct and separate
When a person borrows some money to get his daughter married and if the daughter is a
minor such marriage is prohibited. While the consideration for the contract is the loan, the
object for the contract is the marriage which, if allowed and enforced would defeat the
purpose of the child marriage restraint act. This may also come under the category of the acts
that are opposed to the public policy. Thus either way the contract is void for having an
unlawful object
Section 24 in The Indian Contract Act, 1872
Agreement void, if considerations and objects unlawful in part—"If any part of a single
consideration for one or more objects, or any one or any part of any one of several
considerations for a single object, is unlawful, the agreement is void”.
A contract without valid and legal consideration is void and does not have any legal sanctity.
Consideration is the concept of legal value in connection with contracts. It is anything of value
promised to another when making a contract and that value must compensate the other party
for the services performed by him, and that must be further legal in eyes of law. Barter is not
an accepted form of consideration
Example: Ram and Shyam enter into a contract wherein Ram would sell Shyam 200 kgs of rice,
and Shyam would compensate Ram by selling him 20 kgs of RDX, a banned explosive, whose
use, sale and purchase has been totally outlawed by the Indian Government. Is the agreement
valid? No, as the consideration is not valid and is further illegal in the eye of law.
There is no promise for a lawful consideration, if there is anything illegal in the consideration,
it must be taken as a whole. When the legal part of a contract can be severed from the illegal
part, the bad part may be rejected and the good one can be retained. But where illegal part
can not be severed, the contract is altogether void.