agreement

Section 2(e) of the Contract Act defines an agreement as every promise and every set of promises forming the consideration for each other. It comes into existence when a proposal is accepted. An agreement is wider than a contract: only agreements enforceable by law are contracts.

An agreement becomes a contract under s.10 if it is made by free consent of parties competent to contract, for a lawful consideration and object, and is not expressly declared void. Social and domestic agreements are usually not contracts because there is no intention to create legal relations. Agreements in restraint of marriage or trade, wagers and those with uncertain meaning are declared void.

Example

The two friends' agreement to go to a film together was not a contract, since neither intended legal consequences.

In Indian law

• Section 2(e), Indian Contract Act, 1872 (agreement defined)
• Section 10, Indian Contract Act, 1872 (what agreements are contracts)

See also

contract · offer · acceptance · void agreement

Read more in the study notes

• Arbitration agreement and its drafting (Alternative Dispute Resolution Systems)
• Methods of dispute resolution: adversarial, inquisitorial and ADR (Alternative Dispute Resolution Systems)
• Need for ADR, international commitments and suitability of disputes (Alternative Dispute Resolution Systems)
• Lok Adalats and Permanent Lok Adalats (Alternative Dispute Resolution Systems)
• Arbitration: meaning, kinds and salient features of the 1996 Act (Alternative Dispute Resolution Systems)
• Arbitrators: qualities, appointment, challenge and substitution (Alternative Dispute Resolution Systems)