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When the performance of a contract is not immediately due but it becomes so only after the happening or non-happening of some contingency (i.e., some uncertain event) it is known as Contingent Contract.
"Contingent contracts to do or not to do anything if a specified uncertain event happens within a fixed 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".
"Contingent contracts to do or not to do anything if a specified uncertain event does not happen 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 has expired, if it becomes certain that such event will not happen".
Validity : A wagering agreement is absolutely void. It is illegal in Maharashtra and England. But a contingent contract is a valid contract.
In a wagering agreement the future event is the sole determining factor of the contract while in a contingent contract, the future event is merely collateral or incidental to the contract.
Nature :
All contingent contracts are not of a wagering nature, because all the contingent contracts are not void. All wagering agreements are also contingent contracts because they are dependent on uncertain event.
QUASI-CONTRACTS
Cases where obligation is imposed by law upon a person for the benefit of another even in the absence of a contract, are know as quasi contract
Kinds of Quasi-Contracts
Necessaries Supplied to Person Incapable of Contracting If a person, incapable of entering into a contract, or any one whom he is legally bound to support, is supplied by another person with necessaries suited to his condition in life, the person who has furnished such supplies is entitled to be reimbursed from the property of such incapable person (Sec. 68). Thus, though the contracts by minors, idiots, lunatics, etc., are void, but Section 68 provides that their estates are liable to reimburse the trader who supplies them with necessaries of life. This is on the basis of quasi-contracts.
Kinds of Quasi-Contracts
Payment by an Interested Person
A person (i) who is interested in the payment of money, (ii) in which another is bound by law to pay, and (iii) who therefore pays it, is entitled to be reimbursed by the other (Sec. 69).
Kinds of Quasi-Contracts
Liability for Non-gratuitous Act
Where a person lawfully does anything for another person or delivers anything to him, not intending to do so gratuitously, and such other person enjoys the benefit thereof, the latter is bound to make compensation to the former in respect of, or to restore, the things so done or delivered (Sec. 70)
Illustrations (a) A, a tradesman, leaves good, at B's house by mistake. B treats the goods as his own. He is bound to pay for them. (b) A saves B's property from fire. A is not entitled to compensation from B, if the circumstances show that he intended to act gratuitously.
Kinds of Quasi-Contracts
Responsibility of Finder of lost goods
A person who finds goods belonging to another and takes them into his custody, it is subject to the same responsibility as a bailee (Sec. 71). He is bound to take as much care of the goods bailed to him as a man of ordinary prudence would under similar circumstances, take of his own goods of the same bulk quality and value. It is also the duty of the finder of lost goods to trace the true owner
Kinds of Quasi-Contracts
The Finder, however, can sell the goods in the following cases : (i) where the thing found is in danger of perishing or losing the greater part of its value; (ii) where the owner cannot, with reasonable diligence, be found out; (iii) where the owner is found out, but refuses to pay lawful charges of the finder; and (iv) where the lawful charges of the finder, in respect of the thing found, amount to two-thirds of the value of the thing found.
Kinds of Quasi-Contracts
Action for Money paid, or thing delivered, by Mistake or under Coercion
A person to whom money has been paid, or anything delivered by mistake or under coercion, must repay or return it (Sec. 72). Mistake must be as to the existence of the obligation and not merely as to some collateral matter which may form a motive for the payment.
Kinds of Quasi-Contracts
Accounts Stated/I.O.U
This is a form of action known to English Law, where the obligation arises from an admission of indebtedness, from which the law may imply an undertaking to pay, e.g., an I.O.U. (I owe you).
Thus, where the balance has been struck in an account, an action can be brought thereon without going into all the transactions which led up to it.
Kinds of Quasi-Contracts
Claim for Quantum Meruit
In addition to the above types of quasi-contracts, a claim can also be made on the basis of Quantum Meruit. Where one person has rendered service to another in circumstances which indicate an understanding between them that it is to be paid for although no particular remuneration has been fixed, the law will infer, a promise to pay Quantum Meruit i.e., as much as the party doing the service has deserved.
The outcome of quasi-contracts resemble that created by a contract. So far as claim for damages are concerned, there is a similarity between a quasi-contracts and contract because in case of breach of a quasi-contract, Section 73 provides for the same remedies as provided in case of breach of a contract.