Contracts are agreements between parties that are supported by law and can therefore be enforced through the courts. The term “agreement” necessarily means that the parties agree to the agreement mentioned therein. Not only must the consent of the parties be present, but it is also essential to ensure that such consent is qualified by the free will of the party. The consent that is given by free will is known as ‘Free Consent’ and is one of the essential elements that must exist for the contract to be enforceable. The contract is null or void if it lacks free consent.
According to the Dubai Contracts Act 1971 (hereinafter referred to as “ the law ”), consent is said to be free only when the following factors are absent:
Coercion
II. Illegal influence
III. Fraud
IV. Temptation
V. Error
This article will discuss the five factors mentioned above that hinder the free will of the parties to a contract in accordance with the law.
COERCION
The law defines coercion as an act to commit, or threaten to commit, any act considered a crime by Criminal Law or to seize, or threaten to seize, any asset in an unlawful manner, for the purpose of causing harm to any person. whoever for the purpose of making someone make an agreement.
Coercion, therefore, is an act of forcing a person to enter into an agreement by threatening that a criminal act will be carried out against that person if they do not agree to enter into the agreement. Therefore, the cases in which one of the parties is forced to enter into the agreement by threatening his life, or injuring him or his loved ones in any way or causing any damage to the property or property of said party, are cases that are under duress. . For example: if one of the parties is forced to sign an agreement to sell his house under the threat that his son would be kidnapped if the same is not done.
In such cases, the agreement is revocable at the request of the party whose consent is obtained under duress.
ILLEGAL INFLUENCE
The concept of illegal influence is similar to the concept of “undue influence” under common law. It is said that an Illicit Influence has taken place when the existing relationship between the parties places either party in a position such that it can control the will of the other party and uses that position to secure an unfair benefit at the expense of the other party.
Furthermore, the law provides for tests to determine whether one person is in a position to influence the other. The person is said to be in a position of influence if he or she meets one of the following two conditions:
I. If said person has real or apparent authority over the other party or is required to be honest with the other party;
II. If said person contracts with another person whose mental capacities are affected, temporarily or permanently, by age, illness or physical or psychological pain.
Therefore, a teacher is said to be in a position of control with respect to his student, the employer is said to be in a position of control with respect to his employee, the doctor is said to be in a position of control with respect to his Regarding his patient, a lawyer is said to be in a position of control with respect to his clients, etc.
In the event of allegation or suspicion of the existence of unlawful or undue influence, the burden of proof against the existence of unlawful influence falls on the person occupying the checkpoint.
Said agreements are revocable at the request of the party that had acted under unlawful influence.
FRAUD
Fraud refers to cases where one of the parties receives misleading and false information and that party enters into the agreement based on such false and misleading information.
The law has provided us with certain cases the existence of which creates a presumption of fraud. The following are cases that lead to fraud:
I. Any incorrect statement provided as true by a person who knows it to be false or by that person who does not care, due to indiscretion, whether the statement is true or not;
II. Failure to disclose a fact by someone who knows or is likely to know such a fact;
III. A promise given without any intention of being fulfilled at the time of giving it;
IV. Any other act whose purpose is fraud.
V. Any act or omission specially considered as fraud by law.
When it can be presumed that silence about a fact is equal to the non-existence of the fact and the existence of such plays a decisive role in the conclusion of the agreement, there is a duty by law to disclose such facts and non-disclosure results in fraud.
The party under the influence of fraud may revoke the agreement and therefore the agreement is voidable by that party and not voided ab initio.
TEMPTATION
According to the law, the term temptation used in it includes the following cases:
1. Confirm something that is not true by a person who believes it to be true. These are cases where a person believes that a false fact is true and the other party, instead of correcting the person as to the falsity of the fact, supports the belief of the person and therefore misleads them.
2. Breach of duty without intention of deception, ensuring a benefit to the defaulting party or any person who intends to act on their behalf, by the temptation of another person in such a way as to cause damage to the latter or to any person who intends to act on their behalf Name. act on their behalf.
3. Cause, even in good faith, one of the parties to the contract to misinterpret the essence of the object of the contract. Here, one party to the contract knowingly misleads the other as to the object of the contract and therefore whether it is done in good faith or not is irrelevant.
In all the aforementioned temptation cases, the party whose consent is obtained through the temptation may revoke the agreement and the agreement is voidable at the discretion of that party.
ERROR
Errors can be of two types, there may be an error of fact or an error of law. The fact that it is a material fact of fact is an error that results in the nullity of the agreement. The fact fulfilled in the contract must be material, the term ‘material’ denotes that said fact plays a decisive role for the party to enter into the agreement and the party would have entered into said agreement had it not been for the error of such event. Material may also indicate that such fact essentially affects the rights and responsibilities of the parties under said agreement. In addition, the contract is not annulled by the conclusion of the same due to an error of either party with respect to a fait accompli. It is essential that the fait accompli so wrong is material.
In addition, the law establishes that a mere error in the evaluation of the value of a thing or the value of the object of the agreement is not considered an error in the fait accompli and, therefore, does not invalidate the agreement.
The other type of error is the error of the law. In this case, the error or error with respect to an applicable law invalidates the agreement ab initio and the error is the respect of a law that is not applicable and is judged on the same basis as the error of a fact.