Unit 1
The Indian Contract Act, 1872
6 topics · 1 h 38 min to read · 36% of the marks DU has asked
1.1Contract: nature, kinds, offer and acceptance
24 min read
A contract is an agreement the law will enforce. It starts with an offer, becomes a promise when the offer is accepted, and becomes a contract only if the essentials of s. 10 are present.
1.1.1Agreement and contract
1.1.2Essentials of a valid contract
1.1.3Kinds of contracts
1.1.4Offer: meaning and kinds
1.1.5Legal rules of a valid offer
1.1.6Acceptance and its legal rules
1.1.7Communication and revocation
1.1.8True or false points on offer and acceptance
1.2Consideration
13 min read
Consideration is the price paid for a promise: something done, not done or promised at the promisor's desire. Without it an agreement is void (s. 25), except in the cases the Act itself saves.
1.2.1Meaning of consideration
1.2.2Legal rules of consideration
1.2.3Inadequate consideration
1.2.4No consideration, no contract: s. 25 and its exceptions
1.2.5Privity: stranger to consideration and stranger to contract
1.3Capacity: minors
14 min read
Only a person who is of the age of majority, of sound mind and not disqualified by law can contract (s. 11). An agreement with a minor is void from the start; the law protects the minor but limits what he can take without paying for.
1.3.1Who is competent to contract
1.3.2A minor's agreement is void ab initio
1.3.3False age and restitution
1.3.4Necessaries supplied to a minor
1.3.5Persons of unsound mind
1.3.6Persons disqualified by law
1.4Free consent
19 min read
Consent means agreeing on the same thing in the same sense; it is free when none of coercion, undue influence, fraud, misrepresentation or mistake brought it about. The first four make the contract voidable at the option of the party misled; a mistake of fact by both parties makes the agreement void.
1.4.1Consent and free consent
1.4.2Coercion
1.4.3Undue influence
1.4.4Fraud
1.4.5Misrepresentation
1.4.6Mistake
1.5Legality of object and void agreements
21 min read
An agreement whose object or consideration is unlawful is void (s. 23). Beyond that, the Act names agreements that are void even though nothing in them is forbidden: restraint of marriage, trade and legal proceedings, uncertainty, wagers and impossible acts. Every illegal agreement is void, but not every void agreement is illegal.
1.5.1Lawful consideration and object: s. 23
1.5.2Agreements opposed to public policy
1.5.3Agreements expressly declared void
1.5.4Restraint of marriage and of trade
1.5.5Restraint of legal proceedings and uncertainty
1.5.6Wagering agreements and contingent contracts
1.5.7Void and illegal agreements; reciprocal and alternative promises
1.6Quasi-contracts
7 min read
A quasi-contract is no contract at all, but an obligation the law imposes so that no one is unjustly enriched at another's expense. The Act calls these "certain relations resembling those created by contract" and lists five (ss. 68–72).
1.6.1Meaning and basis
1.6.2The five cases
1.6.3Quantum meruit
Unit 2
Discharge of contract and remedies for breach
2 topics · 53 min to read · 11% of the marks DU has asked
2.1Performance and discharge of contract
25 min read
A contract is discharged when the obligations it created come to an end. The usual way is performance; the others are agreement between the parties, supervening impossibility, lapse of time, operation of law and breach.
2.1.1Meaning and modes of discharge
2.1.2Discharge by performance: actual and attempted
2.1.3Time, place and order of performance
2.1.4Discharge by mutual agreement
2.1.5Supervening impossibility
2.1.6Cases not covered: mere difficulty
2.1.7Discharge by lapse of time
2.1.8Discharge by operation of law and other grounds
2.1.9Discharge by breach
2.2Breach of contract and its remedies
28 min read
Breach is a party's failure to perform his obligation, either when it falls due (actual) or by refusing in advance (anticipatory). The injured party may rescind, claim damages, claim on a quantum meruit, or ask the court for specific performance or an injunction.
2.2.1Breach: actual and anticipatory
2.2.2Remedies for breach; rescission
2.2.3Damages: the rules of s. 73
2.2.4Kinds of damages
2.2.5Liquidated damages and penalty
2.2.6Quantum meruit
2.2.7Specific performance
2.2.8Injunction
Unit 3
Introduction to special contracts
3 topics · 1 h 34 min to read · 17% of the marks DU has asked
3.1Contracts of indemnity and guarantee
28 min read
Both contracts protect a person against loss. In an indemnity one party promises to make good the other's loss; in a guarantee a surety promises a creditor to pay or perform if the principal debtor fails, and then gets rights against that debtor.
3.1.1Contract of indemnity: meaning and essentials
3.1.2Rights of the indemnity-holder; when the indemnifier's liability begins
3.1.3Contract of guarantee: meaning, parties and essentials
3.1.4Indemnity and guarantee distinguished
3.1.5Nature and extent of the surety's liability
3.1.6Kinds of guarantee: specific and continuing
3.1.7Rights of the surety
3.1.8Discharge of the surety
3.2Bailment and pledge
32 min read
In a bailment the owner hands over possession of goods for a purpose, on the terms that the same goods come back or are dealt with as he directs. The law fixes the duties and rights of both sides, gives some bailees a lien, and treats a pledge as a bailment made to secure a debt.
3.2.1Bailment: meaning and essentials
3.2.2Kinds of bailment
3.2.3Duties of the bailor; rights of the bailee
3.2.4Duties of the bailee; rights of the bailor
3.2.5Finder of lost goods
3.2.6Lien: particular and general
3.2.7Pledge: meaning and essentials
3.2.8Pledge by non-owners
3.2.9Bailment and pledge distinguished
3.3Agency
34 min read
An agent acts for a principal and brings him into legal relations with third persons; what the agent does within his authority is the principal's act. This topic covers how agency arises, how far the agent's authority goes, delegation, who is liable to third persons, and how agency ends.
3.3.1Agent and principal: meaning and essentials
3.3.2Creation of agency
3.3.3Agency by ratification
3.3.4Extent of the agent's authority
3.3.5Delegation: sub-agent and substituted agent
3.3.6Principal's liability to third persons
3.3.7Personal liability of the agent to third persons
3.3.8Termination of agency; irrevocable agency
3.3.9Duties and rights of an agent
Unit 5
The Limited Liability Partnership Act, 2008
4 topics · 1 h 46 min to read · 36% of the marks DU has asked
5.1LLP: nature, salient features, small LLP and comparisons
24 min read
An LLP is a partnership that is registered under the 2008 Act and so becomes a body corporate: a person in law, separate from its partners, with perpetual succession. The partners keep a partnership's freedom to run their affairs by agreement, but each risks only what he agreed to contribute. Read every rule below as amended by the LLP (Amendment) Act, 2021.
5.1.1Meaning and legal nature of an LLP
5.1.2Salient features
5.1.3LLP as a hybrid of a company and a partnership
5.1.4Small LLP
5.1.5LLP and partnership firm distinguished
5.1.6LLP and company distinguished
5.2LLP: agreement, incorporation, registered office and name
29 min read
An LLP comes into being when two or more persons file an incorporation document with the Registrar and receive a certificate of incorporation; the partners' own terms go into the LLP agreement. The Act then fixes where the LLP can be found (its registered office) and what it may be called (its name), and how each can be changed.
5.2.1The LLP agreement
5.2.2The incorporation document
5.2.3Incorporation by registration; certificate as conclusive evidence
5.2.4Online incorporation: the steps on the portal
5.2.5Effect of registration
5.2.6Registered office and its change
5.2.7Name of an LLP and its reservation
5.2.8Rectification and change of name; misuse of "LLP"; publication of name
5.3LLP: partners, designated partners, liability and whistle-blowing
36 min read
Anyone, individual or body corporate, may be a partner unless disqualified; at least two individuals must be designated partners and answer for the LLP's compliance. The partners' relations follow the LLP agreement, or the First Schedule where it is silent. The LLP is liable for its own obligations; a partner is liable only for his own wrongs and for fraud; and a partner or employee who exposes wrongdoing is protected.
5.3.1Who can be a partner
5.3.2Designated partners: meaning, number and how they are designated
5.3.3Appointment, consent, DPIN and eligibility of designated partners
5.3.4Role and liabilities of designated partners; vacancies; penalties
5.3.5Relations of partners: the LLP agreement and the First Schedule
5.3.6Cessation of partnership interest and registration of changes
5.3.7Partner as agent and the extent of the LLP's liability
5.3.8Extent of a partner's liability; holding out; contribution
5.3.9Unlimited liability in case of fraud
5.3.10Whistle-blowing
5.4Conversion into LLP
18 min read
A partnership firm, a private company or an unlisted public company can become an LLP by filing statements with the Registrar under the Second, Third or Fourth Schedule. On registration the whole undertaking passes to the LLP by force of law and the old firm or company is deemed dissolved; for a firm, the old partners stay personally liable for the firm's past debts.