PRELIMINARY OF THE INDIAN CONTRACT ACT, 1872

INDIAN CONTRACT ACT, 1872

(Preliminary)

• {Contains section 1 and 2}

Preamble

Whereas it is expedient to define and amend certain parts of the law relating to contracts; It is hereby enacted as follows:

Section- 1 [ Short title ]

This Act may be called the Indian Contract Act, 1872.

Extent, Commencement. -It extends to the whole of India 1[except the State of Jammu and Kashmir]; and it shall come into force on the first day of September 1872.

Saving.- 2[* * *] Nothing herein contained shall affect the provisions of any Statute, Act or Regulation not hereby expressly repealed, nor any usage or custom of trade, nor any incident of any contract, not inconsistent with the provisions of this Act.

1. Subs. by Act 3 of 1951, sec. 3 and Sch., for “except Part B States”.

2. The words “The enactments mentioned in the Schedule hereto are repealed to the extent specified in the third column thereof, but” rep. by Act 10 of 1914, sec. 3 and Sch. 11.

Section - 2 [ Interpretation Clause ]

In this Act the following words and expressions are used in the following senses, unless contrary intention appears from the context:

(a) When one person signifies to another his willingness to do or to abstain from doing anything, with a view to obtaining the assent of that other to such act or abstinence, he is said to make a proposal;

(b) When a person to whom the proposal is made, signifies his assent thereto, the proposal is said to be accepted. A proposal, when a accepted, becomes a promise;

(c) The person making the proposal is called the “promisor”, and the person accepting the proposal is called “promisee”,

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

(e) Every promise and every set of promises, forming the consideration for each other, is an agreement;

(f) Promises which form the consideration or part of the consideration for each other, are called reciprocal promises;

(g) An agreement not enforceable by law is said to be void;

(h) An agreement enforceable by law is a contract;

(i) An agreement which is enforceable by law at the option of one or more of the parties thereto, but not at the option of the other or others, is a voidable contract;

(j) A contract which ceases to be enforceable by law becomes void when it ceases to be enforceable.