Indian Contract Act Section 56 — Agreement to do impossible act
CHAPTER IV OF THE PERFORMANCE OF CONTRACTS — Performance of reciprocal promises
Commercial / Corporate
Summary
An agreement to do something that is impossible in itself is void from the start. This means if the act cannot be done by anyone under any circumstances, the agreement has no legal effect.
A contract to do an act that becomes impossible after the contract is made, or becomes unlawful due to an event the promisor could not prevent, becomes void at the moment the act becomes impossible or unlawful. So if something happens later that makes the promised act impossible or illegal, the contract is no longer valid from that point onward.
Where one person has promised to do something which he knew, or with reasonable diligence might have known, to be impossible or unlawful, and the promisee did not know this, the promisor must compensate the promisee for any loss the promisee suffers because the promise was not performed. This applies only when the promisor had knowledge or could have discovered the impossibility or unlawfulness, while the promisee was unaware of it.
Official Text
An agreement to do an act impossible in itself is void. Contract to do an act afterwards becoming impossible or unlawful.—A contract to do an act which, after the contract is made, becomes impossible, or, by reason of some event which the promisor could not prevent, unlawful, becomes void when the act becomes impossible or unlawful.1 Compensation for loss through non-performance of act known to be impossible or unlawful.—Where one person has promised to do something which he knew, or, with reasonable diligence, might have known, and which the promisee did not know, to be impossible or unlawful, such promisor must make compensation to such promisee for any loss which such promisee sustains through the non-performance of the promise. Illustrations