Civil Substantive Law - Contract, Specific Relief, Transfer of Property, Easements
Contract
Sections 2, 10 and 11 of the Contract Act set out offer, acceptance, consideration and capacity. Key battlegrounds: freer consent under Sections 14 to 19; legality under Section 23; agreements without consideration are void save for Section 25 exceptions; Section 56 frustration must be impossibility, not mere hardship or inconvenience. Section 73 measures damages for natural and proximate consequences only; Section 74 gives reasonable compensation for a stipulated sum, not an automatic penalty.
Specific Relief Act, 1963
Section 10 (post-2018) makes specific performance the rule rather than an exception. Sections 14 and 41 list bars to specific performance and injunctions. Section 16 requires readiness and willingness and is the most frequently tested requirement. Section 34 declarations and Sections 36 to 42 injunctions conclude the field.
Transfer of Property Act, 1882
Section 54 sale (registered and attesting where value is 100 rupees or more); Section 58 mortgages, Sections 59 to 60 mortgage by deposit of title deeds and redemption; Section 53A part performance, which requires willingness to perform; Section 52 lis pendens; Section 43 transfer by unauthorised person; Section 41 ostensible owner; Section 105 lease; Section 122 gift; Section 126 revocation.
Easements Act, 1882
Section 4 defines easement; Section 13 prescribes creation; Section 15 prescribes the twenty-year prescriptive right; Section 41 extinguishment; Section 60 revokes a licence.
Trap
A Section 53A defendant may resist eviction but cannot sue to enforce possession on that footing alone.