Delhi Judicial Services Exam Law of Contract & Specific Relief Syllabus

Law of Contract & Specific Relief syllabus — full chapter and topic list

Expand any chapter to see its topics and sub-topics. This is the whole examinable outline for Law of Contract & Specific Relief in Delhi Judicial Services Exam, not a summary of it.

1. 1

   Formation of Contract

   5 topics

   • Offer and acceptance
     • Communication and revocation
     • Standing offer and general offer
   • Consideration
     • Privity of contract and consideration
     • Exceptions to no consideration no contract
   • Capacity to contract
     • Minor's agreements
     • Persons of unsound mind
   • Free consent
     • Coercion and undue influence
     • Fraud, misrepresentation and mistake
   • Lawful object and consideration
     • Void and unlawful agreements
     • Agreements in restraint of trade and marriage
2. 2

   Performance & Discharge

   4 topics

   • Contingent and quasi contracts
   • Performance of contracts
     • Time as essence
     • Appropriation of payments
   • Discharge of contract
     • By performance, agreement and novation
     • Doctrine of frustration (Section 56)
   • Breach and remedies
     • Damages (Sections 73 and 74)
     • Liquidated damages and penalty
3. 3

   Special Contracts

   3 topics

   • Indemnity and guarantee
     • Rights of surety and discharge
   • Bailment and pledge
   • Agency
     • Creation and authority
     • Termination of agency
4. 4

   Specific Relief Act, 1963

   5 topics

   • Recovery of possession of property (Sections 5 to 8)
   • Specific performance of contracts
     • Contracts that can and cannot be specifically enforced
     • 2018 amendment and substituted performance
   • Rectification, rescission and cancellation of instruments
   • Declaratory decrees (Section 34)
   • Preventive relief and injunctions
     • Temporary and perpetual injunctions
     • Mandatory injunctions

Law of Contract & Specific Relief flashcards for Delhi Judicial Services Exam

21 of 68 cards from the Law of Contract & Specific Relief deck — real questions with worked answers.

1. Under Section 2(h) of the Indian Contract Act, 1872, what is the definition of a 'contract'?

   A contract is an agreement enforceable by law. (Contract = Agreement + Enforceability)

2. What is the distinction between an 'offer/proposal' (Section 2(a)) and an 'invitation to offer'?

   A proposal signifies willingness to do/abstain to obtain assent (capable of acceptance). An invitation to offer (e.g., goods on display, catalogues, advertisements, auctions) merely invites others to make offers; it cannot itself be accepted into a contract.

3. State the rule on communication of acceptance by post (the postal rule) under Section 4 of the Contract Act.

   Acceptance is complete as against the proposer when the letter of acceptance is posted (out of the acceptor's power); as against the acceptor, when it reaches the proposer. A proposal is complete when it comes to the knowledge of the offeree.

4. In Carlill v. Carbolic Smoke Ball Co., what principle regarding general offers was established?

   A general offer made to the world at large can be accepted by anyone who performs the conditions; performance itself constitutes acceptance, and in such unilateral offers prior communication of acceptance is not required.

5. What is the rule laid down in Lalman Shukla v. Gauri Datt regarding acceptance?

   There can be no valid acceptance without knowledge of the offer. A person who performs the act in ignorance of the reward offer cannot claim the reward, as acceptance requires awareness of the proposal.

6. Define 'consideration' under Section 2(d) of the Indian Contract Act, 1872.

   When, at the desire of the promisor, the promisee or any other person has done/abstained, does/abstains, or promises to do/abstain from doing something, such act, abstinence or promise is called consideration for the promise.

7. Does Indian law require consideration to move from the promisee? Which doctrine does this affect?

   No. Under Section 2(d), consideration may move from the promisee 'or any other person.' Thus a stranger to consideration can sue (Chinnaya v. Ramayya), but a stranger to the contract generally cannot (privity of contract).

8. List the exceptions where an agreement without consideration is valid under Section 25 of the Contract Act.

   (1) Written and registered agreement made out of natural love and affection between parties in near relation; (2) Promise to compensate for past voluntary services; (3) Promise in writing to pay a time-barred debt. Also: completed gifts and creation of an agency need no consideration.

9. What was held in Durga Prasad v. Baldeo regarding 'at the desire of the promisor'?

   Consideration must move at the desire of the promisor. Where the plaintiff built shops at the desire of the Collector (not the defendant), the defendant's promise of commission was unenforceable for want of consideration moving at his desire.

10. Who is competent to contract under Section 11 of the Indian Contract Act, 1872?

    A person who (1) is of the age of majority (18 years), (2) is of sound mind, and (3) is not disqualified from contracting by any law to which he is subject.

11. What is the legal status of a minor's agreement, and which case settled it?

    A minor's agreement is void ab initio (absolutely void), not merely voidable. Settled in Mohori Bibee v. Dharmodas Ghose (Privy Council, 1903).

12. Can a minor be held liable for 'necessaries' supplied to him? Under which provision?

    A minor is not personally liable, but his property (estate) is liable to reimburse the supplier of necessaries suitable to his condition in life, under Section 68 (a quasi-contractual liability).

13. What is the test of soundness of mind for contracting under Section 12 of the Contract Act?

    A person is of sound mind if, at the time of making the contract, he is capable of understanding it and forming a rational judgment as to its effect upon his interests. A usually-sane person can contract only when sane; a usually-insane person can contract during lucid intervals.

14. Define 'free consent' and 'consent' under Sections 13 and 14 of the Contract Act.

    Consent (S.13) means two or more persons agreeing upon the same thing in the same sense (consensus ad idem). Consent is free (S.14) when not caused by coercion, undue influence, fraud, misrepresentation, or mistake.

15. Define 'coercion' under Section 15 and its effect on a contract.

    Coercion is committing/threatening to commit any act forbidden by the IPC, or unlawful detaining/threatening to detain property, to cause a person to enter an agreement. It makes the contract voidable at the option of the party whose consent was so caused (S.19).

16. What is 'undue influence' under Section 16 and when is a person presumed to dominate the will of another?

    Undue influence exists where one party is in a position to dominate the other's will and uses it to obtain an unfair advantage. Domination is presumed where one holds real/apparent authority, stands in a fiduciary relation, or contracts with a person whose mental capacity is temporarily/permanently affected.

17. Distinguish 'fraud' (Section 17) from 'misrepresentation' (Section 18).

    Fraud involves an intent to deceive (false statement known to be untrue, active concealment, false promise, etc.); misrepresentation is an innocent/unintentional false statement believed to be true. Both make a contract voidable; in misrepresentation (and silence-fraud) the aggrieved party cannot avoid if he had means to discover the truth with ordinary diligence.

18. What remedies are available to a party whose consent was caused by fraud or misrepresentation under Section 19?

    The contract is voidable at the party's option. He may (1) rescind the contract, or (2) affirm it and insist it be performed and that he be put in the position he would have occupied if the representation were true; he may also claim damages for fraud.

19. What is the effect of a bilateral mistake of fact essential to the agreement (Section 20)?

    Where both parties are under a mistake as to a matter of fact essential to the agreement, the agreement is void. (A mistake of law in force in India is no excuse under S.21; a unilateral mistake of fact generally does not avoid a contract under S.22.)

20. What does Section 23 of the Contract Act provide regarding lawful consideration and object?

    The consideration or object of an agreement is unlawful if it is (1) forbidden by law, (2) of such nature that if permitted it would defeat the provisions of any law, (3) fraudulent, (4) involves/implies injury to person or property of another, or (5) the court regards it as immoral or opposed to public policy. Such agreements are void.

21. What is the effect of an agreement where consideration or object is unlawful in part (Section 24)?

    If any part of a single consideration for one or more objects, or any one or any part of several considerations for a single object, is unlawful, the agreement is void in toto (entirely void).

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