Contract Formation in India: Law and Practice
This chapter examines the law on the formation of contracts in India. The Indian Contract Act 1872 is significant as it is the first successful attempt to codify the English common law of contract in the British Commonwealth. The Act was then transplanted to other jurisdictions in the British Commonwealth. The preamble of the Act makes it clear that it is intended to ‘define and amend certain parts of the law relating to contract’; therefore the Act does not exhaustively set out the rules of contract law. Interesting issues follow relating to the precise ambit of the Act, and the areas where there continues to be room for common law development, whether novel and unique to India, or adopted into Indian law after considering the common law developments in other jurisdictions. One issue relates to the postal acceptance rule which does not state that it is an exception to the instantaneous communication rule. Another issue relates to whether the Act permits the accommodation of a subsequent development in the English common law.