|
Contracts Act 1950 [Act 136]
58 Reciprocal promise to do things legal, and also other things illegal cite [+]
Where persons reciprocally promise, firstly, to do certain things which are legal, and, secondly, under specified circumstances, to do certain other things which are illegal, the first set of promises is a contract, but the second is a void agreement.
ILLUSTRATION
A and B agree that A shall sell B a house for RM10,000, but that, if B uses it as a gambling house, he shall pay A RM50,000 for it.
The first set of reciprocal promises, namely, to sell the house and to pay RM10,000 for it, is a contract.
The second set is for an unlawful object, namely, that B may use the house as a gambling house, and is a void agreement.
59 Alternative promise, one branch being illegal cite [+]
In the case of an alternative promise, one branch of which is legal and the other illegal, the legal branch alone can be enforced.
ILLUSTRATION
A and B agree that A shall pay B RM1,000 for which B shall afterwards deliver to A either rice or smuggled opium.
This is a valid contract to deliver rice, and a void agreement as to the opium.
Appropriation of Payments
60 Application of payment where debt to be discharged is indicated cite [+]
Where a debtor, owing several distinct debts to one person, makes a payment to him, either with express intimation, or under circumstances implying that the payment is to be applied to the discharge of some particular debt, the payment, if accepted, must be applied accordingly.
ILLUSTRATIONS
(a) A owes B, among other debts, RM1,000 upon a promissory note, which falls due on the 1st of June. He owes B no other debt of that amount. On the 1st of June A pays to B RM1,000. The payment is to be applied to the discharge of the promissory note.
(b) A owes to B, among other debts, the sum of RM567. B writes to A and demands the payment of this sum. A sends to B RM567. This payment is to be applied to the discharge of the debt of which B had demanded payment.
61 Application of payment where debt to be discharged is not indicated cite [+]
Where the debtor has omitted to intimate, and there are no other circumstances indicating to which debt the payment is to be applied, the creditor may apply it at his discretion to any lawful debt actually due and payable to him from the debtor, whether its recovery is or is not barred by the law in force for the time being as to the limitation of suits.
62 Application of payment where neither party appropriates cite [+]
Where neither party makes any appropriation the payment shall be applied in discharge of the debts in order of time, whether they are or are not barred by the law relating to the limitation of suits. If the debts are of equal standing, the payment shall be applied in discharge of each proportionably.
Contracts which need not be Performed
63 Effect of novation, rescission and alteration of contract cite [+]
If the parties to a contract agree to substitute a new contract for it, or to rescind or alter it, the original contract need not be performed.
ILLUSTRATIONS
(a) A owes money to B under a contract. It is agreed between A, B and C that B shall henceforth accept C as his debtor, instead of A. The old debt of A to B is at an end, and a new debt from C to B has been contracted.
(b) A owes B RM10,000. A enters into an arrangement with B, and gives B a mortgage of his (A's) estate for RM5,000 in place of the debt of RM10,000. This is a new contract and extinguishes the old.
(c) A owes B RM1,000 under a contract. B owes C RM1,000. B orders A to credit C with RM1,000 in his books, but C does not assent to the agreement. B still owes C RM 1,000, and no new contract has been entered into.
64 Promisee may dispense with or remit performance of promise cite [+]
Every promisee may dispense with or remit, wholly or in part, the performance of the promise made to him, or may extend the time for such performance, or may accept instead of it any satisfaction which he thinks fit.
ILLUSTRATIONS
(a) A promises to paint a picture for B. B afterwards forbids him to do so. A is no longer bound to perform the promise.
(b) A owes B RM5,000. A pays to B, and B accepts, in satisfaction of the whole debt, RM2,000 paid at the time and place at which the RM5,000 were payable. The whole debt is discharged.
(c) A owes B RM5,000. C pays to B RM1,000 and B accepts them, in satisfaction of his claim on A. This payment is a discharge of the whole claim.
(d) A owes B under a contract, a sum of money, the amount of which has not been ascertained. A, without ascertaining the amount, gives to B, and B, in satisfaction thereof, accepts the sum of RM2,000. This is a discharge of the whole debt, whatever may be its amount.
(e) A owes B RM2,000, and is also indebted to other creditors. A makes an arrangement with his creditors, including B, to pay them a composition of fifty cents in the dollar upon their respective demands. Payment to B of RM1,000 is a discharge of B's demand.
65 Consequences of rescission of voidable contract cite [+]
When a person at whose option a contract is voidable rescinds it, the other party thereto need not perform any promise therein contained in which he is promisor. The party rescinding a voidable contract shall, if he has received any benefit thereunder from another party to such contract, restore the benefit, so far as may be, to the person from whom it was received.
66 Obligation of person who has received advantage under void agreement, or contract that becomes void cite [+]
When an agreement is discovered to be void, or when a contract becomes void, any person who has received any advantage under the agreement or contract is bound to restore it, or to make compensation for it, to the person from whom he received it.
ILLUSTRATIONS
(a) A pays B RM1,000 in consideration of B's promising to marry C, A's daughter. C is dead at the time of the promise. The agreement is void, but B must repay A the RM1,000.
(b) A contracts with B to deliver to him 250 gantangs of rice before the 1st of May. A delivers 130 gantangs only before that day, and none later. B retains the 130 gantangs after the 1st of May. He is bound to pay A for them.
(c) A, a singer, contracts with B, the manager of a theatre, to sing at his theatre for two nights in every week during the next two months, and B engages to pay her RM100 for each night's performance. On the sixth night A wilfully absents herself from the theatre, and B, in consequence, rescinds the contract. B must pay A for the five nights on which she had sung.
(d) A contracts to sing for B at a concert for RM1,000, which are paid in advance. A is too ill to sing. A is not bound to make compensation to B for the loss of the profits which B would have made if A had been able to sing, but must refund to B the RM1,000 paid in advance.
67 Mode of communicating or revoking rescission of voidable contract cite [+]
The rescission of a voidable contract may be communicated or revoked in the same manner, and subject to the same rules, as apply to the communication or revocation of a proposal.
Important Notice: Legislation from this website is not a copy of the Gazette printed by the Government Printer, Percetakan Nasional Malaysia Berhad, for the purposes of section 61 of the Interpretation Acts 1948 and 1967 [Act 388] and does not constitute prima facie evidence of the contents of the Gazette by virtue of the section.
|
