'A' and 'B' contract to marry each other. Before the time is fixed for the marriage, 'A' goes mad. Test the validity of the contract.

Question: ‘A’ and ‘B’ contract to marry each other. Before the time is fixed for the marriage, ‘A’ goes mad. Test the validity of the contract. Decide the problem on the basis of the decided case. [BJS 2014]

Find the answer to the mains question only on Legal Bites. [‘A’ and ‘B’ contract to marry each other. Before the time is fixed for the marriage, ‘A’ goes mad. Test the validity of the contract. Decide the problem on the basis of the decided case.]

Answer

Section 56 of The Indian Contract Act, 1872 in its second paragraph lays down provisions regarding the contract to do act afterward becoming impossible or unlawful.

It states that: “A contract to do an act which, after the contract is made, becomes impossible, or, by reason of some event which the promisor could not prevent, unlawful, becomes void when the act becomes impossible or unlawful”

There are three very basic conditions for the application of the second part of Section 56

1. Firstly, there must be a valid and subsisting contract between the parties.
2. Secondly, there must be some part of the contract which is still not performed and
3. Thirdly, the contract is rendered as impossible of performance after it has been duly entered into by the parties.

This is a case of subsequent impossibility. The second paragraph of Section 56 lays down the effect of the subsequent impossibility of performance. Sometimes the performance of a contract is quite possible when it is made by the parties. But some event subsequently happens which renders its performance impossible or unlawful. In either case, the contract becomes void.

Where, for example, after making a contract of marriage, one of the parties goes mad, or where a contract is made for the import of goods and the import is thereafter forbidden by a Government Order, or where a singer contracts to sing and becomes too ill to do so, the contract in each case becomes void.

This section recognizes the events, which can render the performance of the contract impossible and can disturb the performance of the contract.

The facts of the present case are borrowed from Illustration (b) appended to Section 56. In this case, ‘A’ and ‘B’ contract to marry each other but before the time fixed for the marriage, ‘A’ goes mad, thus making the contract between ‘A’ and ‘B’ impossible and void, owing to the subsequent impossibility that renders the contract incapable of being performed in its true sense.

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Law of Contract Mains Questions Series: Important Questions for Judiciary, APO & University Exams

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