Contract Law

Rescission may be sought when the contract is voidable or terminable by the plaintiff (A), and rectification may be claimed in any suit involving rights under the instrument (B). Section 19-20 establish these parallel remedies.

Where the proposal made is to be accepted by letters sent through post, the contract is completed, the moment the letter accepting the proposal is posted.

Section 16 (3) of the Indian Contract act states that where a person who is in a position to dominate the will of another, enters into a contract with him and the transaction appears on the face of it or on the evidence adduced to be unconscionable, the burden of proving that such contract was not induced by undue influence shall be upon the person in a position to dominate the will of the other. 

As per section 52 of the Indian Contract act, where the order in which reciprocal promises are to be performed is expressly fixed by the contract, they shall be performed in that order and where the orders is not expressly fixed by the contract, they shall be performed in that order which the nature of transaction requires. 

Section 19 of Indian Contract act states that when consent to an agreement is caused by coercion, fraud or misrepresentation, the agreement is a contract voidable at the option of the party whose consent was so caused. 

In an agreement, A sells to B his skin bleaching products business “Intimate Whitener” and the goodwill of the business with the condition that A will not carry on such similar business throughout India so long as B carries it on anywhere in India. The agreement records that this condition is reasonable and that no court will have jurisdiction to examine this condition. The agreement is void as it violating the article 301 of the Constitution. B cannot impose restriction on A to carry on business throught India. A specified area or time can be the criteria of restriction in restraint of trade.

The Apex Court held that the jurisdiction to order specific performance of a contract is based on the existence of a valid and enforceable contract. 

Under section 14 of the specific relief act, it has provided the conditions when the specific performance of contract is not enforceable: (a) when compensation in money is an adequate relief (b) when a contract runs into such minute and complex details or is dependent on personal qualifications or volition of the defendant, or otherwise from its nature is such that a court cannot enforce specific performance of its material terms (c) when a contract is in its nature determinable i.e. can be brought to an end under given conditions (d) when a contract, the performance of which involves performance of continuous nature, which the court cannot supervise

It has been laid down by the legislature under section 27 of the specific relief act that any person interested in a contract may sue to have it rescinded and such rescission may be adjudged by the court where the contract is voidable or terminable by the plaintiff.

Nemo dat quod non habet, literally meaning "no one gives what he doesn't have" is a legal rule, sometimes called the nemo dat rule.

Hadley v Baxendale (1854) is a leading English contract law case. It sets the basic rule to determine consequential damages from a breach of contract.

Under English Law, past consideration is no consideration and under Indian Law, past consideration is good consideration.

An offer made to the public at large is called general offer.

At any time, a continuing guarantee about future transactions can be revoked by the surety by notice to the creditor and continuing guarantee can be revoked by death of surety.

A specific performance of a contract may be enforced under section 19 of the Specific Relief act, when a relief against parties and persons claiming under them by subsequent title.