INTRODUCTION

From archaic times, human beings are indulged in trading, whether obsidian or barter trading, for the betterment of themselves. With the passage of time, they realised the need of some specific set of rules and laws, to govern, to ensure no cheating, and to introduce justified trading system. Keeping the need of the hour in mind, human beings of certain regions framed certain set of rules (or laws), to be in peace with their fellow country mates. The lawmakers in India being second to none, also introduced The Indian Contract Act 1872 into play. So, to understand what the significance of Indian Contract Act is, let us take the following definition into consideration-

“An agreement between two or more than two parties, with the capacity of making a contract, legally enforceable by law, creating legal obligations, containing valid offer and acceptance, and having legal consideration, not hereby expressed void by the law, is a contract.”

After looking at the above definition, one must be wondering what is an Agreement? It is nothing but simply “a promise and every set of promises, forming the consideration for each other, is an agreement”.1

Before we harp on to the Indian Contract Act, 1872, we must acknowledge ourselves about who are competent to contract? Let’s understand this in brief.

¹ S. 2(e), The Indian Contract Act, 1872 (9 of 1872), Lexis Nexis

WHO IS CAPABLE OF MAKING A CONTRACT?

Each and every person who is not a minor (according to the Indian Law), possessing sound mind and is not barred by any law to which he is answerable, is capable of making a contract. To understand this better, following are the persons which are incapable of making a contract-

• Minors,
• A person barred by law (to which he/she is answerable), and
• Persons possessing unsound mind.

In this particular series, we will be focusing on Minors and some general problems which underlays in the Indian Contract Act of 1872 . We will try our best to understand each and every set of topics with certain examples and case laws. Our main aim will be to enhance our knowledge regarding this topic. So, let’s get started-

WHO IS A MINOR?

A minor is generally a person who has not attained the age of maturity, the age of making decisions about what is best for them. The age is attaining majority is varying from country to country. For example, 18 in India, 20 in Japan and New Zealand, 19 in Korea (and some states of US). But our main concern in this project will be related to the Indian context, but to avoid misunderstanding, we will try to take into consideration laws of other countries also. To begin with the concept of minor and major, we now have the basic idea about the age group which can be considered as minor or major. A minor according to the Indian Laws is someone who has not attained the age of 18 years. Now one would wonder why a person below 18 years of age is not capable of making a contract?

The answer is because they haven’t acquired the skill of understanding what is good for them and what is not. It is simply to protect the children from incurring loss, due to their inexperience. If the concept of minority was not taken into consideration, we would have witnessed numerous cases of frauds committed on the minors. A minor who does not have a source of income, cannot purchase vehicles, toys, property or anything because they cannot, simply, repay. Also, it is to be noted, that according to our constitution, a child is ought to be educated till at least attaining 14 years of age. So, wouldn’t it be contradictory to imagine a child earning and studying at the same time? The introduction of minority as incompetency of entering in a contract also ensures the economical safety of minors in this way.

Aishwarya Says:

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