A quasi-contract is also known as an implied contract or constructive contract. The contract deals with the rights and responsibilities that result from an agreement. This contract is a retroactive agreement between two parties who don’t have any prior contractual commitments. It is not like a real contract that has elements like free consent, consideration, the capacity to contract, and offer and acceptance.
A quasi contract was first defined by the English Law but the Indian lawmakers amended it and inserted it in the Indian Contract Act as certain relations resembling those created by contracts. The Indian Contract Act does not describe quasi contracts but terms it as a partnership. A quasi contract is considered as a transaction in which there are no contractual obligations between the two parties, the rights, responsibility, and obligations between the parties are created by law like a regular contract.
Essential Elements of Quasi-Contract
It is enforced by law, unlike regular contracts. It does not arise from any agreement but is imposed by the law.
It is a right in personam (against any one person or entity). The rights are not available against the whole world but against the particular person that resembles a contractual right.
The individual who incurs expenses is entitled to receive money. The benefit obtained from another is not intended as a gift and is not legally justifiable.
Legal Provisions of Quasi Contract under Indian Contract Act, 1872
In the quasi contract there is no offer or acceptance so there shall be a contractual relationship between partners. The quasi contract provides five kinds of obligations from section 68 to 72 of the Indian Contract Act, 1872:
- Supply of necessities (section 68)
- Payment by interested persons (section 69)
- Liability to pay for non-gratuitous acts (section 70)
- Finder of goods (section 71)
- A mistake of coercion (section 72)
Difference between Contracts and Quasi Contract
The contract is provided under section 2(h) of the Indian Contract Act, 1872, and section 68-72 of the Indian Contract Act contains information about Indian Contract Act, 1872.
The contract is a real agreement that creates rights and obligations to the parties to the contract. A quasi contract is not a real agreement but it resembles a real contract.
In a contract, there are elements like free consent, consideration, the capacity to contract, and offer and acceptance. But the quasi-contract there is no element as it is made voluntarily.
Contracts are entered into the parties voluntarily whereas quasi-contracts are imposed by law.
