E - Contracts and Indian Laws
Electronic contracts & the Indian law
This document is an extract from the book Ecommerce - Legal Issues authored by Rohas Nagpal. This book is available as courseware for the
Diploma in Cyber Law and PG Program in Cyber Law conducted by Asian School of Cyber Laws
www.asianlaws.org
Ecommerce - Legal Issues
4. Electronic Contracts
Contracts have become so common in daily life that most of the time we do not even realize that we have entered into one. Right from hiring a taxi to buying airline tickets online, innumerable things in our daily lives are governed by contracts.
The Indian Contract Act, 1872 governs the manner in which contracts are made and executed in India. It governs the way in which the provisions in a contract are implemented and codifies the effect of a breach of contractual provisions.
Within the framework of the Act, parties are free to contract on any terms they choose. Indian Contract Act consists of limiting factors subject to which contract may be entered into, executed and breach enforced.
It only provides a framework of rules and regulations which govern formation and performance of contract. The rights and duties of parties and terms of agreement are decided by the contracting parties themselves. The court of law acts to enforce agreement, in case of non-performance.
Electronic contracts (contracts that are not paper based but rather in electronic form) are born out of the need for speed, convenience and efficiency.
Imagine a contract that an Indian exporter and an American importer wish to enter into. One option would be that one party first draws up two copies of the contract, signs them and couriers them to the other, who in turn signs both copies and couriers one copy back. The other option is that the two parties meet somewhere and sign the contract.
In the electronic age, the whole transaction can be completed in seconds, with both parties simply
This document is an extract from the book Ecommerce - Legal Issues authored by Rohas Nagpal. This book is available as courseware for the
Diploma in Cyber Law and PG Program in Cyber Law conducted by Asian School of Cyber Laws
www.asianlaws.org
Ecommerce - Legal Issues
4. Electronic Contracts
Contracts have become so common in daily life that most of the time we do not even realize that we have entered into one. Right from hiring a taxi to buying airline tickets online, innumerable things in our daily lives are governed by contracts.
The Indian Contract Act, 1872 governs the manner in which contracts are made and executed in India. It governs the way in which the provisions in a contract are implemented and codifies the effect of a breach of contractual provisions.
Within the framework of the Act, parties are free to contract on any terms they choose. Indian Contract Act consists of limiting factors subject to which contract may be entered into, executed and breach enforced.
It only provides a framework of rules and regulations which govern formation and performance of contract. The rights and duties of parties and terms of agreement are decided by the contracting parties themselves. The court of law acts to enforce agreement, in case of non-performance.
Electronic contracts (contracts that are not paper based but rather in electronic form) are born out of the need for speed, convenience and efficiency.
Imagine a contract that an Indian exporter and an American importer wish to enter into. One option would be that one party first draws up two copies of the contract, signs them and couriers them to the other, who in turn signs both copies and couriers one copy back. The other option is that the two parties meet somewhere and sign the contract.
In the electronic age, the whole transaction can be completed in seconds, with both parties simply