Contract Act, 1872 — Section 36: Agreement contingent on impossible events void

36. Agreement contingent on impossible events void. Contingent agreements to do or not to do anything, if an impossible event happens, are void, whether the impossibility of the event is known or not to the parties to the agreement at the time when it is made. Illustrations

(a)A agrees to pay B 1,000 rupees if two straight lines should enclose a space. The agreement is void.

(b)A agrees to pay B 1,000 rupees if B will marry A’s daughter C. C was dead at the time of the agreement. The agreement is void. An offer to one of several joint promisees has the same legal consequences as an offer to all of them. Illustration A contracts to deliver to B at his warehouse, on the 1st March, 1873, 100 bales of cotton of a particular quality. In order to make an offer of a performance with the effect stated in this section, A must bring the cotton to B’s warehouse, on the appointed day, under such circumstances that B may have a reasonable opportunity of satisfying himself that the thing offered is cotton of the quality contracted for, and that there are 100 bales.