RECIPROCAL PROMISE

A promise as per section 2 of the Indian Contract Act, 1872, is an acceptance to the proposal made by “one person signifying to another his willingness to do or to abstain from doing anything, to obtain the assent of that other to such act or abstinence.” As per section 2(f) of the Indian Contract Act “promises which form the consideration or part of the consideration for each other, are called reciprocal promises.”

For example, when you go to the shop, a shopkeeper agrees to give you the product for exchange of money. This is a reciprocal promise. Here, a shopkeeper promised to give the product and you made a reciprocal promise to give money for that product. 

Types of Reciprocal Promise

1. Mutual and Independent: This concept comes out of jurisprudence and it states that promises of the parties are not dependent on each other. They need not rely on each other for performance. For example, there is a contract between A and B in which A promises to send 5 sacks of flour and B promises to send 4 sacks of rice in return.

In such situation performance of a contract by A is independent of the performance by B. A can fulfil his promise even if B fails to send 4 sacks of rice as non-performance of the contract by B doesn’t make it impossible for A to fulfil his promise. Since the acts are binding, they are mutually exclusive and thus independent of each other.

In the case of Mrs Saradamani Kandappan v. Mrs S. Rajalakshmi and Ors, Plaintiff used to pay for a piece of land to the defendant, before paying for the last instalment, plaintiff asked the defendant to show the tittle document but the defendant failed to do so. Plaintiff refused to pay for the last portion and thus, Defendant terminated the contract. Plaintiff approached the court with the plea that since the defendant wasn’t able to show the title document, she couldn’t pay the last instalment. The court held that the promises made between the parties were exclusive and hence, the plaintiff should pay the last instalment as failure to disclose the title document didn’t make it impossible for the plaintiff to perform her part of the contract.

1. Conditional: This is when the performance of the contract by one party depends on the performance of the other party. In such a situation it becomes impossible for the second party to fulfil his promise unless the first party will serve his part of the contract. 

For example, A and B come into a contract with the condition that A will send the house building material and B will build the house. In this contract, unless A sends the material, B cannot complete the project. 

1. Concurrent: This is when the parties promise to perform the task simultaneously. In this case, if one party is not “ready or willing” to perform his promise, another party will automatically get exempted from the performance of the contract. 

For example, a shopkeeper will give you products only if you are ready and willing to pay for those products.