WHEREAS it is expedient to define and amend certain parts of the law relating to contracts;
It is hereby enacted as follows:—
This Act may be called the Indian Contract Act, 1872.
It extends to the whole of India 2[ 3***]; and it shall come into force on the first day of September, 1872.
4*** Nothing herein contained shall affect the provisions of any Statute, Act or Regulation not hereby expressly repealed, nor any usage or custom of trade, nor any incident of any contract, not inconsistent with the provisions of this Act.
In this Act the following words and expressions are used in the following senses, unless a 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;
(1. For the Statement of Objects and Reasons for the Bill which was based on a a report of Her Majesty’s Commissioners appointed to prepare a body of substantive law for India, dated 6th July, 1866, see Gazette of India, 1867 Extraordinary, p. 34; for the Report of the Select Committee, see ibid., Extraordinary, dated 28th March, 1872; for discussions in Council, see ibid., 1867, Supplement, p. 1064; ibid., 1871, p. 313, and ibid., 1872, p. 527. It has been amended in C.P. by C.P. Act 1 of 1915 and in C.P. and Berar by C.P. and Berar Act 15 of 1938.
The Chapters and sections of the Transfer of Property Act, 1882 (4 of 1882), which relate to contracts are, in places in which that Act is in force, to be taken as part of this Act—see Act 4 of 1882, s. 4.
This Act has been extended to Berar by the Berar Laws Act, 1941 (4 of 1941) to Dadra and Nagar Haveli by Reg. 6 of 1963, s. 2 and Sch. I to Goa, Daman and Diu by Reg. 11 of 1963, s. 3 and Sch., (w.e.f. 1-10-1965) to Laccadive, Minicoy and Amindivi Islands by Reg. 8 of 1965, s. 3 and Sch., to Pondicherry by Act 26 of 1968, s. 3 and Sch. and has been declared to be in force in—
the Sonthal Parganas—see Sonthal Parganas Settlement Regulation, 1872 (3 of 1872), s. 3, as amended by the Sonthal Parganas Justice and Laws Regulation, 1899 (3 of 1899), s. 3.
Panth Piploda—see the Panth Piploda Law Regulation, 1929 (1 of 1929), s. 2.
It has been declared, by notification under s. 3(a) of the Scheduled Districts Act, 1874 (14 of 1874), to be in force in—
The Tarai of the Province of Agra—see Gazette of India, 1876, Pt. I, p. 505;
the Districts of Hazari bagh, Lohardaga and Manbhum, and Pargana Dhalbhum and the Kolhan in the District of Singhbhum—see Gazette of India, 1881, pt. I, p. 504.—The District of Lohardaga included at this time the present District of Palamau which was separated in 1894. The District of Lohardaga is now called the Ranchi District—see Calcutta Gazette, 1899, pt. I, p. 44.)
(2. Subs. by Act 3 of 1951, s. 3 and Sch., for “except Part B States.”)
(3. The words “except the State of Jammu and Kashmir” omitted by Act 34 of 2019, s. 95 and the Fifth Schedule (w.e.f. 31-10- 2019).
(4. 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, s. 3 and the Second Schedule.)
(b) When the person to whom the proposal is made signifies his assent thereto, the proposal is said to be accepted. A proposal, when accepted, becomes a promise;
(c) The person making the proposal is called the “promisor”, and the person accepting the proposal is called the “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.
