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Assignment - Legal

The document discusses the law around a minor's liability for necessities in India, citing relevant sections of the Indian

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Rajesh Yadav
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72 views

Assignment - Legal

The document discusses the law around a minor's liability for necessities in India, citing relevant sections of the Indian

Uploaded by

Rajesh Yadav
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Q 1.

A minor is personally liable for the necessaries supplied to


him or his dependents.

Status of statement: Erroneous


Details:-
A contract can be defined as an agreement made between two or more individuals that are
enforceable by law. A contract is an agreement enforceable by law as per the Indian
Contract Act, 1872, under its section 2 (h). The Contracts or agreements among various
individuals are formed and validated as per the provisions of the Indian Contract Act.

Necessaries are items and services that are necessary to the minor’s health and safety,
such as food, lodging, shelter and clothing. Auto mobile is considered as necessaries for
some special cases.
These two conditions are necessary for liability of minor:

 the first, the supply must not be more than sufficient


 and the second is, the supply must be according to the standard of minor.

In India the claim for necessaries supplied to minor is dealt in the chapter-V of Indian
Contract Act with the caption/title “Certain Relations Resembling those created by Contract.
Section 10 of the Indian Contract Act states that the parties must be competent to contract.
Competence is defined in Section 11 of the Indian Contract Act. It says that “Every person is
competent to contract who is of the age of majority according to the law to which he is
subject, and who is of sound mind, and is not disqualified from contracting by any law to
which he is subject”.
Thus, this section declared the following persons to be incapable of forming a contract:
1. Minors
2. Persons of unsound mind, and
3. Persons disqualified from law to which they are the subject.

But some exceptions or special arrangements have been done in Section 68 of the Indian
Contract Act ,1872 to safeguard their interests
A minor is not absolutely incapable of capacity. A contract for necessaries is just one of
those categories of contracts which a minor is permitted to make which was observed in the
case of Nash v. Inman . In the case of Meenakshisundaram v. Rang Ayyangar , it was
observed by the Court that money advanced for necessary purpose can be treated as
money advanced for necessaries within the meaning of section 68 of the Indian Contract
Act, 1872.
The essentials of a valid Contract are:
1. Offer and Acceptance
2. Free consent
3. Lawful Object
4. Not being expressly declared void
5. Intention to create a legal relationship
6. Lawful Consideration
7. Competent parties

Liability of Minor’s for Necessaries in India:


 A minor is liable to pay for necessities supplied to him or her as per section 68 of the Indian
Contract Act, 1872, a minor is also liable for necessaries. In the case of Chapple v. Cooper
the court held that necessaries are not only food, shelter, clothes but also education or
religious and any such things which are necessary for life, comes under the definition of
necessaries. The following two conditions are necessary for liable;
i). The supply must not be more than sufficient;
ii) The supply must be according to the standard of minor. In the case of Petress v. Fleming,
the supply of a watch to a minor whose study was considered as the necessity because to
have a watch for graduate person is his necessity.

Major Judgement & Case summary :


Nash v. Inman case (1908)
The minor was already in possession of certain quantity of clothes which is suitable with
regards to his needs, but minor was supplied with more clothes. It was held that excess
quantity of clothes which is supplied to minor will not come under necessaries. And
expensive valuables such as jewellery and diamonds will not come under the term
necessaries as these articles have little or no contribution in enhancing one’s development.
Thus, if a blind person is supplied by android or if a person has no arms is supplied with bag-
pack then it will not be considered as necessities.
Srikakulam Subramanyam V Kurra Subba Rao Case (1948)
It was subsequently in the case of Srikakulam Subramanyam V Kurra Subba Rao, the Privy
Council overruled the earlier decision and entertained no doubt that was within the power of
the mother of minor as a guardian to enter into a contract on the behalf of the minor to enter
into a contract of the sale for the purpose of discharging his father’s debts. Following these
orders, the Orissa High Court held that holding of property for religious purposes by the
guardians on behalf of the minor was specifically enforceable. A few years later, according to
the doctrine under Section 20 of the Specific Relief Act, 1963, if the contract is within the
competence of the minor’s guardian, then for the minor’s benefit it is specifically enforceable.
Mohiri Bibi v. Dharmodas Ghosh (1903)
The plaintiff Dharmodas Ghosh, when he was a minor, mortgaged his property to the
defendant, a moneylender. At that time, defendant’s attorney had the knowledge about
plaintiff’s age. The plaintiff later paid only Rs 8000 but refused to pay rest of the money. The
plaintiff’s mother was his next friend (legal guardian) at that time, so he commenced an
action against the defendant saying that at the time of making of a contract, he was a minor,
so the contract being a void one, he is not bound by the same.

The court held that unless the parties have competence under Section 11 of the Act, no
agreement is a contract.
References: -

1. Home | Legislative Department | Ministry of Law and Justice | GoI

Website of Ministry of law & justice

2. https://advocatespedia.com/Minors_liability_for_necessaries
The encyclopaedia
3. The Indian Contract Act, 1872 , enforcement date: 01-09-1872.
4. Business law by Kaushal & Kaushal

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