Competence

Minor
• By virtue of Indian Majority Act, 1875
• 18
• 21 when guardian appointed by Court
• Nature of Minor’s Agreement

• Mohribibee v Dharmodas Ghose 1903

• Law of estoppel not applicable
• Compensation under 64 or 65 not allowed –Disagreed by Law Commission of India
• If mortgage cancelled as requested by minor, he should refund under section 41 of SRA
1877- at the discretion of the court
Effect of Minor’s Agreement
• Estoppel against the minor
• Restitution against a minor
• Liability of minor in Tort
• Contracts beneficial to minor
• Ratification by Minor
• Liability for necessaries
• Position in Partnership
Doctrine of restitution

• English Law – goods that can be traced- restored but not money
• Leslie v Sheill (1914)

• Indian Law: Sec 65, 65, 70 and SRA (sec 68)

• Khan Gul v Lakha Singh (1928) (if defendant, asked to restore money)
• Ajudhiya Prasad v Chandan Lal (1937) (when plaintiff, only property traced)
• Law Commission Of India- Followed Lahore High Court in Khan Gul’s case
• Specific Relief Act, 1963
 Sec 33: Power to require benefit to be restored or
compensation to be made when instrument is cancelled or
is successfully resisted as being void or voidable.
1. On adjudging the cancellation of an instrument, the court may require the party
to whom such relief is granted, to restore, so far as may be any benefit which he
may have received from the other party and to make any compensation to him
which justice may require.
2. Where a defendant successfully resists any suit on the ground—
a) that the instrument sought to be enforced against him in the suit is voidable, the court may
if the defendant has received any benefit under the instrument from the other party,
require him to restore, so far as may be, such benefit to that party or to make
compensation for it;
b) that the agreement sought to be enforced against him in the suit is void by reason of his
not having been competent to contract under section 11 of the Indian Contract Act, 1872 (9
of 1872), the court may, if the defendant has received any benefit under the agreement
from the other party, require him to restore, so far as may be, such benefit to that party, to
the extent to which he or his estate has benefited thereby.
Liability for Tort
• Johnson v Pye: Misrepresentation or Fraud for loan

• Burnard v Haggis: Trespass (Tort) beyond the contract

Ratification by Minor
• Can a minor ratify a contract after he turns major?
• Void ab initio ??

• Karam Chand v Basant Kaur 1911

• Suraj Narain v Sheku Ahir 1928

• MC Nagalaksmi v MA Farooq 2007

Minor’s Liability for necessaries – Sec 68
• Quasi-contractual
• What are necessaries?
• Status of person and requirements at the time of delivery
• Chappel v Cooper (1844)
• Nash v Inman (1908)
• Kunwarlal v Surajmal (1963)
• 68. If a person, incapable of entering into a contract, or anyone whom he
is legally bound to support, is supplied by another person with
necessaries suited to his condition in life, the person who has furnished
such supplies is entitled to be reimbursed from the property of such
incapable person.
• Illustrations
(a) A supplies B, a lunatic, with necessaries suitable to his condition in
life. A is entitled to be reimbursed from B's property.
• (b) A supplies the wife and children of B, a lunatic, with necessaries
suitable to their condition in life. A is entitled to be reimbursed from B's
property.
Beneficial Contracts
• Contract of Apprenticeship or Service – on same footing as
necessaries – England

• Doyle v White City Stadium Ltd (1935)

• India : Contract of service void but apprenticeship valid

• Raj Rani v Prem Abid (1949)
• India Apprenticeship Act, 1850

• Contracts where no liability to be incurred by minors – enforced

Position of a Person of Unsound Mind
• Sec 11 r/w Sec 12
• Test of Unsound mind
• Indar Singh v Parmeshwardhari Singh AIR 1957 Pat 498
• Onus to prove unsoundness
• A person is said to be of sound mind for the purpose of making a
contract if, at the time when he makes it, he is capable of
understanding it and of forming a rational judgment as to its effect
upon his interests.
A person who is usually of unsound mind, but occasionally of sound
mind, may make a contract when he is of sound mind.
• A person who is usually of sound mind, but occasionally of unsound
mind, may not make a contract when he is of unsound mind.
• Illustrations
(a) A patient in a lunatic asylum, who is at intervals of sound mind,
may contract during those intervals.
• (b) A sane man, who is delirious from fever or who is so drunk that he
cannot understand the terms of a contract or form a rational judgment
as to its effect on his interests, cannot contract whilst such delirium or
drunkenness lasts.