Point out with reason whether the following agreements are valid or void: i) Riya promises Samarth to lend Rs. 500,000 in lieu of consideration that Samarth gets Riya’s marriage dissolved and he himself marries her. (ii) Aryan agrees with Mathew to sell his black horse. Unknown to both the parties, the horse was dead at the time of agreement. (iii) Ravi sells the goodwill of his shop to Shyam for Rs. 4,00,000 and promises not to carry on such business forever and anywhere in India. (iv) In an agreement between Prakash and Girish, there is a condition that they will not institute legal proceedings against each other without consent. (v) Mr. X agrees to write a book with a publisher. After few days, X dies in an accident.

Validity of agreements (i) Void Agreement: As per Section 23 of the Indian Contract Act, 1872, an agreement is void if the object or consideration is against the public policy. (ii) Void Agreement: As per Section 20 of the Indian Contract Act, 1872 the contracts caused by mistake of fact are void. There is mistake of fact as to the existence of subject matter. (iii) Void Agreement: As per Section 27 of the Indian Contract Act, 1872 an agreement in restraint of trade is void. However, a buyer can put such a condition on the seller of good will, not to carry on same business. However, the conditions must be reasonable regarding the duration and the place of the business. (iv) Void Agreement: An agreement in restraint of legal proceedings is void as per Section 28 of the Indian Contract Act, 1872. (v) Void Contract: As per section 2(j) of the Contract Act, “A contract which ceases to be enforceable by law becomes void when it ceases to be enforceable”. In the present case, Mr. X agrees to write a book with a publisher. After few days, X dies in an accident. Here the contract becomes void due to the impossibility of performance of the contract.