Course Description

Contract Law is taught in two core courses in the undergraduate curriculum. The course is mandatory under the curriculum prescribed by the Bar Council of India. Contract I is a core course that forms the first and the foundational part of this framework. The word ‘contract’ in general parlance is used on a routine basis without attributing much importance to its legal consequences. In legal parlance, the word ‘contract’ and the law governing it is dynamic and has seen centuries of evolution. The primary aim of this course is to engage with the core concepts of this dynamic discipline. Being one of the first courses on statutory law administered to undergraduate law students, this course offers an insight into some of the foundational legal discourses on statutory interpretation as well. The course mainly comprises the general principles of the law governing enforceable agreements. The principal topics that will be discussed during the course include:

(i)                 the process and legal rules related to formation of agreements;

(ii)              the legal requirements which must be satisfied

(a) to make agreements legally enforceable, or

(b) vitiate their legal enforcement on factors including capacity, consent, consideration, mistake, misrepresentation, undue influence, performance and breach of contract; privity of contract; quasi contracts; contractual terms and the implication of terms;

(iii)            principles relating to the discharge of contracts;

(iv)             remedies for breach of contract by way of damages, liquidated damages, specific performance and injunction.

In other words, this course deals comprehensively with the basic principles of law of contracts, especially the Indian law on contract. Introduction to the laws of obligations and the foundational understanding of legal liability in contractual relations would be the focus of this course. This course would also encourage reflective thinking and analytical legal reasoning skills of the students by cultivating the ability to move between the doctrinal analysis of the law and its application in practice.