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Section 34: When event on which contract is contingent to be deemed impossible

Indian Contract Act • Official Statutory Text & Practice Guide

Statutory Regulation
Legal Standard
Competent Court / Tribunal
Act 1872
Section 33 All 266 Sections of Indian Contract Act Section 35

Legal Commentary & Landmark Judgments: Section 34

Section 34 of the Indian Contract Act, 1872 establishes a statutory fiction of deemed impossibility for contingent contracts where the contingency is the future conduct of a living person, providing that such event is deemed impossible if that person performs any act rendering the conduct impossible within a definite time or except under further contingencies.

  • Living Person's Conduct as Contingent Foundation: Applies specifically to contracts where the contingency depends upon how a designated living person will act at a future time.
  • Statutory Deeming of Impossibility by Disabling Conduct: The contingency is deemed impossible as a matter of law the instant the individual performs any voluntary act that disables them from acting as contemplated within a definite time.
  • Acceleration of Remedial Rights: Relieves the promisee from waiting indefinitely for future deadlines; converts anticipatory disabling conduct into an accrued breach, entitling the promisee to immediate rescission and damages.
Key Landmark Precedents:
  • Frost v. Knight (1872) LR 7 Ex 111: Foundational common law principle codified in Section 34: where the defendant promised to marry the plaintiff after his father's death but married another woman during his father's lifetime, he voluntarily disabled himself, creating an immediate cause of action for breach.
  • Lovelock v. Franklyn (1846) 8 QB 371: Held that where a party covenants to assign a leasehold interest upon a future date but conveys the identical interest to a stranger prior to that date, the contingency is deemed impossible forthwith, entitling the covenantee to immediate damages.
Courtroom Practice & Strategic Litigation Guidance:

In real estate development, share purchase, or exclusivity agreements where a party covenants to transfer assets upon obtaining personal title or corporate status, invoke Section 34 if that party alienates or pledges the subject matter to a third party. Plead that the defendant's voluntary act constitutes deemed impossibility, enabling immediate suit for anticipatory breach and damages without awaiting the contractual closing date.

Section 33 All 266 Sections of Indian Contract Act Section 35