Indian Contract Act 1872 - Free Consent

Free Consent

According to Section 14, " two or more persons are said to be consented when they agree upon the same thing in the same sense (Consensus-ad-idem).

A consent is said to be free when it is not caused by coercion or undue influence or fraud or misrepresentation or mistake.

Elements Vitiating free Consent

1. Coercion (Section 15): "Coercion" is the committing, or threatening to commit, any act forbidden by the Indian Penal Code under(45,1860), or the unlawful detaining, or threatening to detain, any property, to the prejudice of any person whatever, with the intention of causing any person to enter into an agreement.

2. Undue influence (Section 16): "Where a person who is in a position to dominate the will of another enters into a contract with him and the transaction appears on the face of it, or on the evidence, to be unconscionable, the burden of proving that such contract was not induced by undue influence shall lie upon the person in the position to dominate the will of the other."

3. Fraud (Section 17): "Fraud" means and includes any act or concealment of material fact or misrepresentation made knowingly by a party to a contract, or with his connivance, or by his agent, with intent to deceive another party thereto of his agent, or to induce him to enter into the contract.

4. Misrepresentation (Section 18): " causing, however innocently, a party to an agreement to make a mistake as to the substance of the thing which is the subject of the agreement".

5. Mistake of fact (Section 20): "Where both the parties to an agreement are under a mistake as to a matter of fact essential to the agreement, the agreement is void".