Quasi contracts: the relations resembling contracts, and how they differ from contracts

Quasi contracts. In certain circumstances the law imposes on a person an obligation like one created by a contract, although he never agreed to anything. The law steps in because a person should not be allowed to enrich himself unjustly at another's expense; such obligations are called quasi contracts. The Contract Act sets out these "certain relations resembling those created by contract" in sections 68 to 72.

The circumstances (sections 68 to 72):

1. Necessaries supplied to a person incapable of contracting (s. 68): if such a person, or anyone he is legally bound to support, is supplied with necessaries suited to his condition in life, the supplier is entitled to be reimbursed from his property. The claim is against the incapable person's property only, not against him personally. Example (our own): a shopkeeper supplies school uniforms and books to the children of a man of unsound mind; he is repaid out of the man's property.
2. Payment by an interested person (s. 69): one "who is interested in the payment of money which another is bound by law to pay, and who therefore pays it, is entitled to be reimbursed by the other". The payer must have an interest of his own to protect, and the other must be legally bound to pay. Example (our own): a tenant pays the owner's overdue property tax to stop the municipality attaching the house he lives in, and recovers it from the owner.
3. Benefit of a non-gratuitous act (s. 70): where a person lawfully does anything for another, or delivers anything to him, not intending to act gratuitously, and the other enjoys the benefit, the other is bound to make compensation in respect of, or to restore, the thing so done or delivered. Three things are needed: the act is lawful, it is not meant as a gift, and the other enjoys its benefit; one who meant to act free of charge has no claim. Example (our own): a caterer delivers lunch boxes to the wrong office, and the staff eat them knowing they were not a gift; the office must pay.
4. Finder of goods (s. 71): one who comes upon another's goods and takes charge of them carries the same responsibility as a bailee. He must therefore take the care that a man of ordinary prudence would, in similar circumstances, take of goods of his own matching them in bulk, quality and value (s. 151). A bailee must also return the goods, or deliver them as the bailor directs, without waiting to be asked, once the time of the bailment has run out or its purpose has been served (s. 160); for a finder, that means handing them back as soon as the owner is found. His rights are two (s. 168): he cannot sue the owner for the trouble and expense he voluntarily incurred in preserving the goods and tracing the owner, but he may keep the goods until he is paid that compensation; and where the owner has offered a specific reward for their return, he may sue for the reward and keep the goods until he receives it. He may also sell a thing commonly sold (s. 169), but only when two conditions are both met: (i) the owner cannot with reasonable diligence be found, or, on demand, refuses to pay the finder's lawful charges; and (ii) the thing is in danger of perishing or of losing the greater part of its value, or the finder's lawful charges in respect of it amount to two-thirds of its value. Example (our own): a commuter who picks up a laptop left on a Metro seat must keep it safe and hand it back; he cannot use it as his own.
5. Money paid or a thing delivered by mistake or under coercion (s. 72): the person who received it must repay or return it. The rule covers a payment made twice by mistake and a payment extracted by an unlawful demand, of which only the unlawful excess is recoverable. Example (our own): a customer's bank transfer for a phone is sent twice by an app error; the seller must refund the second payment.

How they differ from contracts. A quasi contract resembles a contract in its effect but not in the way it comes about. Like a contractual right, the right under it is available against particular persons, not against the whole world, and is enforced by a suit in the same way. The differences are:

The points in the table rest on the features of quasi contracts set out in the cited text.