Page 29 - DMGT102_MERCANTILE_LAWS_I

Unit 2: Offer and Acceptance

Notes
Example:
(i) A makes a contract with B to buy B’s house if A survives C. This contract cannot be
enforced by law unless and until C dies in A’s lifetime.

(ii) A makes a contract with B to sell a house to B at a specified price if C, to whom the house
has been offered, refuses to buy it. The contract cannot be enforced by law unless and until
C refuses to buy the house.
(iii) A contracts to pay B a sum of money when B marries C. C dies without being married
to B. The contract becomes void.

2. Contingent contract to do or not to do anything if an uncertain future event happens can be
enforced when the happening of that event becomes impossible, and not before (s.33).

Example: A agrees to pay B a sum of money if a certain ship does not return. The ship
is sunk. The contract can be enforced when the ship sinks.

3. If a contract is contingent upon as to how a person will act at an unspecified time, the event
shall be considered to become impossible when such person does anything which renders

it impossible that he should so act within any definite time, or otherwise than under further
contingencies (s.34).

Example: A agrees to pay B a sum of money if B marries C. C marries D. The marriage
of B to C must now be considered impossible, although it is possible that D may die and C may
afterwards marry B.
4. Contracts contingent upon the happening of a specified uncertain event within a fi xed time

become void if, at the expiration of the time fixed, such event has not happened or if, before

the time fixed, such event becomes impossible (s.35 para 1).

Example: A promises to pay B a sum of money if a certain ship returns within an year.
The contract may be enforced if the ship returns within the year, and becomes void if the ship is
destroyed within the year.
5. Contracts contingent upon the non happening of a specified event within a fixed time may

be enforced by law when the time fixed has expired and such event has not happened, or,

before the time fixed expired, if it becomes certain that such event will not happen (s.35
para II).
Example: A promises to pay B a sum of money if a certain ship does not return within
an year. The contract may be enforced if the ship does not return within the year, or is destroyed
within the year.
6. Contingent agreements to do or not to do anything, if an impossible event happens, are
void, whether the impossibility of the event is known or not to the parties to the agreement
at the time when it is made.

Example:
(i) A agrees to pay B ` 1,000 if two parallel straight lines should enclose a space. The
agreement is void.
(ii) A agrees to pay B ` 1,000 if B will marry A’s daughter C. C was dead at the time of the
agreement. The agreement is void.

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