What is Quasi-Contract?

Under common law, the Quasi-Contract was introduced in the Middle Ages. The Quasi-Contract is basically an agreement between two parties wit...

Under common law, the Quasi-Contract was introduced in the Middle Ages. The Quasi-Contract is basically an agreement between two parties without any prior obligation to each other which is made and legally recognized by the court system. In the absence of a written contract, a semi-contract exists.

I will discuss the Quasi-Contract in the below.

What is Quasi-Contract?

In some cases, obligations and rights similar to the contracts are created without the contract. Although there is an obligation like a contract, it is not established by contract law, but by the general law and justice of the country. In British law these are called (Quasi-Contract), whose Bengali synonym is 'almost contract'. These have been termed as ‘Relation resembling those of contracts’ in the law of Bangladesh and there are provisions in section 68 to 72 of the Contract Act.

Example

Suppose you ordered online a pizza for home delivery at Pizza Hut and paid for the pizza by card. But the delivery man takes the pizza to the wrong address, ‘B’, and ‘B’ received the pizza without correcting it.

In this case, if a lawsuit is filed, the court will arrange a Quasi-Contract where ‘B’ will refund you your pizza money.

And this kind of contract is used to prevent any party from benefiting from the 'situation' at the expense of the other party.

Necessary consideration of semi-contract

There are, of course, considerations for a judge when judging the Quasi-Contract. They are as follows:

• The plaintiff must prove that a real thing or a service was given to another party.
• Defendant must have accepted or acknowledged receipt of the valuable item but made no attempt or offer to pay.
• Then, the plaintiff must explain why it would be unfair for the defendant to accept the expensive item without paying the price, so that the defendant unjustly prospered.

The point to consider from the example above is that the person who ordered the pizza and paid for it will actually have the right to demand money from the person receiving the pizza (i.e. ‘B’); The first person is the plaintiff, the second is the defendant.

Types of semi-contracts

The classification of quasi-contracts or semi-contracts is given in sections 68 to 72 of the Contract Act, 1872. They are as follows:

• To provide the necessities of life.
• The debtor deserves.
• Beneficiary price of the work performed.
• Liability of the rescuer of the lost goods.
• Liability for refund by mistake.