Section 232 - Performance of contract with agent supposed to be principal, Section 233 - Right of person dealing with agent personally liable : Indian Contract Act 1872

What is the meaning of Performance of contract with agent supposed to be principal? What is Right of person dealing with agent personally liable? Section 232 and 233 of Indian Contract Act 1872


 

Section 232 of Indian Contract Act 1872 : "Performance of contract with agent supposed to be principal"

232. Where one man makes a contract with another, neither knowing nor having reasonable ground to suspect that the other is an agent, the principal, if he requires the performance of the contract, can only obtain such performance subject to the rights and obligations subsisting between the agent and the other party to the contract.

Illustration
A, who owes 500 rupees to B, sells 1,000 rupees' worth of rice to B. A is acting as agent for C in the transaction, but B has no knowledge nor reasonable ground of suspicion that such is the case. C cannot compel B to take the rice without allowing him to set off A's debt.

 

Section 233 of Indian Contract Act 1872 : "Right of person dealing with agent personally liable"

233. In cases where the agent is personally liable, a person dealing with him may hold either him or his principal, or both of them, liable.

Illustration
A enters into a contract with B to sell him 100 bales of cotton, and afterwards discovers that B was acting as agent for C. A may sue either B or C, or both, for the price of the cotton.