Damages for Breach of Contract

Damages are a monetary compensation allowed to the injured party by the Court for the loss or  injury suffered by him by the breach of a contract. The object of awarding damages for the breach of contract is to put the injured party in the same position, so far as money can do it, as if he had not been  injured, i.e. in the position in which he would have been had there been performance and not breach. This  is called the doctrine of restitution.

The rules relating to damages may be considered as under:

1. Damages arising naturally – Ordinary damages

When a contract has been broken, the injured party can recover from the other party such  damages as naturally and directly arose in the usual course of things from the breach.… Read the rest

Contingent Contracts

A contract may be unconditional or absolute on the one hand and conditional or contingent on the other. The absolute or unconditional contract is one without any reservations or conditions and is to be performed under any event. On the other hand, conditional or contingent contract is one in which a promise is conditional and the contract shall be performed only on the happening or not happening of some future uncertain event. The event must be collateral to the contract. The condition may be precedent or subsequent. For example, goods are sent on approval, the contract is a contingent contract depending on  the act of the buyer to accept or reject the goods.… Read the rest

Offer and Acceptance

One of the early steps in the formation of contract lies in arriving at an  agreement between the contracting parties by means of offer and acceptance.  One party makes a definite proposal to the other, and that other accepts it in its  entirety.

Offer

An offer is also called a proposal. Sec.2 (a) of the Indian Contract Act  defines a proposal as,

“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”.

The person  making the proposal is called the “proposer”, or “offeror” and the person to  whom the proposal is made is called the “offeree”.… Read the rest

Quantum Meruit in Business Law

‘Quantum meruit’ literally means ‘as much as earned’ or ‘as much as is merited’. When a person has  done some work under a contract, and the other party repudiates the contract, or some event happens  which makes the further performance of the contract impossible, then the party who has performed the  work can claim remuneration for the work he has already done. Likewise, where one person has  expressly or impliedly requested another to render him a service without specifying any remuneration, but  the circumstances of the request imply that the service is to be paid for, there is implied a promise to pay  quantum meruit, i.e.… Read the rest

Crossing of Cheques

Crossing means drawing two parallel transverse lines across the face of the cheque  with or without the words “and company” in between the lines. It is a direction to the  drawee bank not to pay the amount at the counter, but only through a bank. It is made to  guard payment against forgery by unscrupulous persons.

Crossing of cheques is of two kinds: (1) General Crossing and (2) Special Crossing.

1. General Crossing

Sec. 123 of the Negotiable Instruments Act defines General Crossing as, “where a  cheque bears across its face an addition of the words ‘And Company’ or any  abbreviation thereof, between two parallel transverse lines or of two parallel transverse  lines simply, either with or without the words ‘not negotiable’, that addition shall be  deemed to be a crossing and the cheque shall be deemed to be crossed generally”.  … Read the rest

Dishonour of Cheques – Section 138 of Negotiable Instruments Act

A paying banker is under a legal obligation to honour his customer’s mandate. He  is bound to do so under his contractual relationship with his customer. A wrongful  dishonour will have the worse effect on the banker. However, under the following  circumstances, the payment of a cheque may be refused:

  1. Countermanding: Countermanding is the instruction given by the customer of a bank  requesting the bank not to honour a particular cheque issued by him. When such an  order is received, the banker must refuse to pay the cheque.
  2. Upon receipt of notice of death of a customer: When a banker receives written  information from an authoritative source, regarding the death of a particular  customer, he should not honour any cheque drawn by that deceased customer.
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