contract

Hey!

The impossibility to perform contract has been referred to as frustration of contract as under s.56 of the Indian Contract Act. Section 56 deals with the doctrine of frustration as being acts which cannot be performed. Under this doctrine a promisor is relieved of any liability under a contract in the event of the breach of contract and contract will be deemed to be void.

Section 56 is based on the maxim “ les non cogit ad impossibilia” which means that the law will not compel a man to do what he cannot possibly perform.

The basis of the doctrine of frustration was explained by Supreme Court in the case of Satyabrata Ghose v. Mugneeram in which Justice Mukherjee held that the basic idea upon which doctrine of frustration is based is that of the impossibility of performance of the contract and the expression frustration and impossibility can also be used as synonyms. But the court also stated that this principle cannot be used as an excuse to not perform a contract.

Court stated that, “The sanctity of contract is the foundation of our law of contract and the doctrine of impossibility does not displace that principle, but merely enables the Court to enforce it equitably. It releases a party from its obligations to perform a contract where performance has become Impossible as a result of events out of the control of that party……the Court will not apply the doctrine of impossibility to assist a party which does not want to fulfil his obligations under the contract and relies on literal impossibility to back out of it. The doctrine of impossibility, which is based on equity and common sense cannot be permitted to become a device for destroying the sanctity of contract."

For example, there is a contract for sale of a house. But if the house gets demolished or destroyed due to unforeseen reasons such as earthquake, here it becomes impossible to enforce the contract as the subject matter of the cpntract has been destroyed and hence doctrine of impossibility will apply.

Hope this answers your question!

Regards

Palak Singh

Thanks a lot expert Palak Singh for elaborately defyining the term which was otherwise impossible to be defined in such simple language.