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Involuntary Bailment and the Case for a Differential Standard of Care: Rethinking the 13th Law Commission’s Recommendation
Aadya Narain | Introduction The law of bailment governs duties and liabilities that arise when possession of goods changes hands without a transfer of ownership. Under s.148 of the Indian Contract Act, 1872 (“ICA”), bailment is defined as the delivery of goods by one person to another for some purpose, upon a contract that the goods shall, when the purpose is accomplished, be returned or otherwise disposed of in accordance with the directions of the person delivering them. A
Aadya Narain
Jan 31
The Indian Contract Act 1872: A Unique Achievement?
Professor (Dr.) Warren Swain, D.Phil (Oxon) [Professor, University of Auckland; Visiting Professor, George Washington University] | The recent one hundred and fiftieth birthday has brought about renewed interest in the Indian Contracts Act 1872 . A comprehensive volume reevaluating the Act was published in 2024. An excellent introduction to the history of Indian contract law by Professor Swaminathan appeared last year. My own contribution to this literature has examined th
Prof. (Dr.) Warren Swain
Jan 31
Restitution Against Public Authorities II: Insights from English Law
Aanjneya Tandon | I. Introduction It would be a fair assessment to say that unjust enrichment is a relatively nascent field of private law in Indian jurisprudence. That is not, however, to take away from the salience and complexity of the questions that it has raised. This is especially true in regard to restitution claims against public authorities. An analysis of this area was done on this blog earlier this year in an article focussing on the status of ‘pass
Aanjneya Tandon
Dec 20, 2025
The Impact of Indian Contract Law on the Development of Common Law Contract Damages and Sale of Goods Law
Prof. (Dr.) Katy Barnett | Readers may wonder why an Australian professor is writing a post about the comparative importance of Indian contract law, and why she has a passion for Indian private law. First, it is important for common lawyers to understand the importance of the Indian Contract Act 1872 to common law development. Secondly, it is important to encourage private law scholarship globally, including in India and the subcontinent. Unfortunately, in most jurisdictions,
Dr. Katy Barnett
Dec 3, 2025
Xiaomi India Pvt Ltd v State of Karnataka: Can contracts shape tax outcomes?
Dr. Nigam Nuggehalli [1] The case of Xiaomi India Pvt Ltd v State of Karnataka (hereafter Xiaomi ), decided by the Karnataka High Court, is actually a simulation of a case because it did not yield a decision. The court remitted the case back to the Joint Commissioner of Commercial Taxes (the ‘adjudicating officer’) to review the case once again after hearing the parties more comprehensively on the applicable law. It is likely that after the adjudicating officer has taken hi
Prof. (Dr.) Nigam Nuggehalli
Nov 5, 2025
Unjust Enrichment in Indian Law: Some Foundational Questions [Part 1 of Series on UE]
Anirud Raghav S U | I. Introduction Unjust enrichment has rapidly gained prominence in England in the late half of the 20 th century. Thanks to the meticulous taxonomy developed by Professor Birks, the chaotic state of affairs was compendiously reduced to a set of intelligible principles. Legions of academic work and judicial decisions on unjust enrichment followed. Few would disagree that the law on unjust enrichment is of substantial commercial significance
Anirud Raghav S U
Nov 3, 2025
The Nature of Beneficiary's Rights under Indian Trust Law [ Foundations of Indian Trust Law #1]
Anirud Raghav S U | “Our principle is simply this — uniformity when you can have it; diversity when you must have it; but in all cases certainty.” — Macaulay (on the Indian Codification Project) I. Introduction This is the first piece in a series of pieces on trust law. The objective of this post is to identify the nature of a beneficiary’s rights under Indian trust law: whether it is proprietary, personal or sui generis. To begin with, it might be helpful
Anirud Raghav S U
Jul 28, 2025
What can Private Law Contribute to Indian Public Law?
Balu G Nair | Allan Beever’s contribution to the edited volume on ‘Rights and Private Law’ is titled, perhaps provocatively, ‘ Our Most...
Balu G Nair
Jul 26, 2025
Foreword to IPLR : by Prof. (Dr.) Shivprasad Swaminathan
Scholarship on private law has thrived in the United States, England, Australia and Canada, as it has elsewhere in the common law world....
Prof. (Dr.) Shivprasad Swaminathan
Jun 4, 2025
Examining the Foundations of Contract Law: A Précis of Fuller and Purdue's Reliance Interest Framework
Kedar Manoj Ammanji | Introduction This piece opens a series of précis on foundational works in private law. This précis analyses the Reliance Interest framework developed by Lon L. Fuller and William R. Purdue in their seminal two-part articles - Reliance Interest in Contract Damages I and II. Fuller and Purdue articulate three key purposes which are pursued while awarding contract damages - (a) restitution interest; (b) reliance interest; and (c) expectation interest; Rest
Kedar Manoj Ammanji
Jun 3, 2025
The Puzzles in our Preambles: A Backdoor to Common Law or a Self-Contained Code?
Anirud Raghav & Prem Vinod Parwani | I. Introduction While reading a case on the law of contracts or evidence, one will often find an...
Private Law Review
May 6, 2025
The Empty Provisions of Indemnity in the Indian Contract Act
This piece argues that the provisions on indemnity in the Indian Contract Act are a drafting anomaly, and thus essentially defunct today.
Prem Vinod Parwani
Mar 23, 2025
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