Define a contract. Explain the essentials of a valid contract.

A contract is a voluntary legally binding agreement between two or more parties.
 Contract is a branch of the law
of obligations in jurisdictions of the civil
law tradition. Contract law is concerned
about the rights and duties that results from agreements.

All contracts are agreement but not all
agreement is contract.

Only that agreement that is enforced by
law is contract.

For an agreement to be legally valid
must have the essentials of valid contract as per section 10 of the Indian contract
act.

According to section 10 “ All agreements
are contracts if they are made by the free consent of parties, competent to
contract, for a lawful consideration and with a lawful object and are not
expressly declared to be void” 

Essentials of Valid Contract:

1. Offers and Acceptance: For a contract
to be valid there must be a lawful offer by one party and lawful acceptance by
another party.

2.  Legal Relationship: For a agreement to be valid, the parties must
create legal relationship. For Agreement of
social or domestic nature, legal relationship is not considered.

3.   Lawful Consideration:  Consideration
has been defined as the price paid by one party for the promise of the other. An
agreement is enforceable only when both the parties get something and give
something.

 4.  Capacity of Parties:  Parities
to an agreement must be capable to contract. Even if one of the parties is
not capable of contract, then the contract is invalid.

 5.  Free Consent: The parties must
agree upon same thing in the same sense.

 6. Lawful Objects: Object of an
agreement must be valid. It means the design of the contract.

7.  Writing and Registration: A contract may
be oral or in writing according to Contract Act. It is required
for the validity of a contact that the agreement must be in writing and signed
and attested by witness and registered if so required by the law.

8. Certainty: According to Section 29 of the Contract Act,
“Agreements the meaning of which are not certain or capable of being made
certain are void.”

9. Possibility of Performance:
According to section 56 lays “An agreement to do an act
impossible in itself is void.”

 10. Not Expressly Declared Void: Condition for the contract should be
capable of performance.