Section 230 - Agent cannot personally enforce, nor be bound by, contracts on behalf of principal, Section 231 - Rights of parties to a contract made by agent not disclosed: Indian Contract Act 1872

What is the meaning of Agent cannot personally enforce, nor be bound by, contracts on behalf of principal? What is the meaning of Rights of parties to a contract made by agent not disclosed? Section 230 and 231 of Indian Contract Act 1872

Section 230 of Indian Contract Act 1872 : "Agent cannot personally enforce, nor be bound by, contracts on behalf of principal"

230. In the absence of any contract to that effect, an agent cannot personally enforce contracts entered into by him on behalf of his principal, nor is he personally bound by them.

Presumption of contract to contrary.-Such a contract shall be presumed to exist in the following cases:-

(1) Where the contract is made by an agent for the sale or purchase of goods for a merchant resident abroad;

(2) Where the agent does not disclose the name of his principal;

(3) Where the principal, though disclosed, cannot be sued.

Section 231 of Indian Contract Act 1872 : "Rights of parties to a contract made by agent not disclosed"

231. If an agent makes a contract with a person who neither knows, nor has reason to suspect, that he is an agent, his principal may require the performance of the contract; but the other contracting party has, as against the principal, the same rights as he would have had as against the agent if the agent had been principal.

If the principal discloses himself before the contract is completed, the other contracting party may refuse to fulfil the contract, if he can show that, if he had known who was the principal in the contract, or if he had known that the agent was not a principal, he would not have entered into the contract.