Duty Of Reasonable Care: Under The Indian Contract Act, 1872
Harshita Verma, BA.LL.B. (Hons.), Bennett University)
ABSTRACT:
Duty of reasonable care of the bailee has been expressly defined in the section 151 of the Indian contract act 1872 and it defines the duty of reasonable care of the bailee as an ordinary prudent man in a contract of bailment and the contract of bailment has been defined in section 148 of Indian contract act 1872, where a good is delivered from one person to another for some purpose that is to be returned or disposed of on the directions of the bailor when the purpose is accomplished. This research paper highlights the concepts arose from the section 151 and 152 of Indian contract act 1872 that talks about the care that is to be taken by the bailee in a contract of bailment and the liability of the bailee when reasonable care is taken respectively. In this research paper the concept of exemption of liability is well clarified with the perspective of Pollock & Mulla and how is it different to the judgments by few high courts. The thirteenth law commission report for contract act,1872, and the changes brought by it to the provisions given in the section 151 of Indian contract act of 1872. This paper discusses the issue of decreasing the liability of a bailee in a contract of bailment. This paper aims to analyse the concept of liability for the bailee. This also helps to comprehend the intensity of the liability that may arise due to lack of duty of reasonable care of the bailee. In this paper analytical research methodology has been used to critically analyse the theory of fiction in the section 151 of Indian contract act 1872.
