A contract
may be a retroactive arrangement between two parties who have no previous
obligations to a minimum of each other. It is created by a judge to correct a
circumstance during which one party acquires something at the expense of the
opposite.
The
contract aims to stop one party from unfairly taking advantage of things at the
opposite party's expense. These arrangements could also be imposed when goods
or services are accepted, though not requested, by a celebration. The
acceptance then creates an expectation of payment.
Features of Quasi-contract:
·
It is a right which is out there not against a
specific person or persons then , that during this respect it resembles a
contractual right.
·
It doesn't arise from any agreement of the parties
concerned it's imposed by law.
·
Such Quasi-contractual right is usually a right to
money, and usually, though not always, to a liquidated sum of cash .
TYPES OF QUASI-CONTRACTS:
1)
Supply
of necessaries (Section 68):
according to section 68, if a person incapable of entering into a contract or
any one whom he as legally bound to support is supplied by another with
necessaries suited to his condition in life the one that has furnished such
supplies I entitled to be reimbursed from the property of such incapable person.
Ex: ‘A’,
supplies “B” a lunatic with necessaries suitable to his condition in life. ”A”
is entitled to reimburse from B’s property.
The essential requirements of
Section.69 as follows:
The
payment mode should be bonafide for the protection of one’s interest.
The
payment should not be a voluntary one.
The payment
must be like the opposite party was bound by law to pay.
Ex: “B”
holds land Bengal on a lease granted by the Zamindar. The revenue payable by
“A” to the government being behind his land is advertised purchasable by the government
under the Revenue Law. The sale will be annulment of “B’s lease. ’B’ to prevent
the sale and the consequent of annulment of his own lease pays to the
Government the sum due from A. A is sure to observe to B the quantity so paid.
Ex: “A”, a
tradesman lease goods at “B” house by mistake. B treats the goods as his own.
He is bound to pay for them to A.
5)
Mistake
or coercion (Section.72): an individual to whom money has
been paid, or anything delivered by mistake or under coercion, must repay or
return it to the one that paid it by mistake or under coercion.
Ex: “A”
& “B” jointly owe Rs.100/- to “C”. A alone pays the amount to C and B not
knowing this fact pays Rs.100/- over again to “C”. C is sure to pay the
quantity to B.
Case laws for Quasi contract –
1. Municipal Board, Agra v. Ram Krishna, (1933 ALJ 1414)
· It was held by the Bench that the claim could not be considered to be in respect of any act done, or purporting to have been done, in pursuance of this Act or of any rule or bye-law made thereunder.
2.
Lothamasu Sambasiva Rao vs Thadwarthi Balakotiah,
(AIR 1973 AP 342)
Circumstances must occur under any system of law
in which it becomes necessary to hold one person to be accountable to another,
without any agreement on the part of the former to be so accountable on the
ground that otherwise he would be retaining money or some other benefit which
has come into his hands to which the law regards the other person as better
entitled, or on the ground that without such accountability the other would
unjustly suffer loss.
The three common law actions of a quasi-contractual nature
A. For money paid by the plaintiff to the
defendant's use
B. For money had and received by the defendant to
the plaintiff's use
C. Quantum meruit. It is under the first two heads that Mr.
Jagannadha Rao sought to put his case as, according
to him. Section 70 incorporates
what is a quasi-contract in the English Common Law.
——Nivethi Natarajan
