Minor's Agreement & Its Effects — Void Ab Initio — KSLU Contract I Notes

The Minor’s Agreement & Its Effects

Of all the rules on capacity, the one the examiner returns to every year is the minor’s agreement. A person who has not completed 18 years cannot bind themselves by contract at all — and the consequences of that single rule run through ratification, estoppel, restitution and necessaries.

Minor’s agreement — void ab initio

The leading case Mohori Bibee v Dharmodas Ghose (1903) settled that a minor’s agreement is void ab initio — void from the very beginning, not merely voidable. From this flow the key rules:

No ratification — a minor cannot ratify the agreement on attaining majority (a void agreement cannot be revived).
No estoppel — even if the minor lied about his age, he is not estopped from pleading minority (Mohori Bibee; Leslie v Sheill).
Restitution — the minor generally need not restore benefits, though a court may order restitution of identifiable property under equity/s.33 of the Specific Relief Act.
Necessaries (s.68) — a person who supplies necessaries suited to the minor’s condition in life may be reimbursed from the minor’s property (not the minor personally) — a quasi-contractual liability, not a contract.
Beneficial contracts — agreements wholly for the minor’s benefit (apprenticeship, marriage for the minor) may be enforced by the minor.
Minor as agent and as partner — a minor may act as an agent (s.184) and bind his principal to third persons, though he incurs no personal liability to the principal. He cannot be a full partner (a partnership agreement with a minor is void), but under s.30 of the Partnership Act, 1932 he may, with the consent of all partners, be admitted to the benefits of an existing firm — sharing profits and inspecting accounts, without personal liability for losses.

Case Laws

[C-4] Mohori Bibee v Dharmodas Ghose (1903) — a minor’s agreement is void ab initio; there is no estoppel against a minor and the money advanced cannot be recovered on the contract.

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