Legal Capacity Competency 1 Section 101 of the

Legal Capacity (Competency) 1

Section 10(1) of the Contract All agreements are contract if they are made by free consent of parties competent to contract. 2

1. Who is of the age of majority 2. Who is of sound mind 3. Who is not disqualified from contracting by any law So, who are competent to contract? SECTION 11 3

Based on the Age of Majority Act 1971 That all person in Malaysia attain of majority at 18 years old A person below 18 years old will be known as ‘minor’ or ‘infant’ 4

Cases: Mohori Bibee v Dhurmodas Ghose Tan Hee Juan v The Boon Keat 5

Case: Tan Hee Juan v The Boon Keat The plaintiff was a minor entered into the agreement with the defendant. The plaintiff has transferred his land to the defendant and after that, the defendant has paid the price for the land. Later on, the plaintiff took legal action and claimed that the above said agreement should be considered as void since he was a minor at the time he transferred the land. The court held that the agreement between the plaintiff and defendant should as void since the plaintiff was a minor. 6

Exceptions on the above mention rule Contracts for necessaries Contracts for the minor’s benefit 7

Contracts for necessaries Contracts for ‘goods suitable to the condition in life of the minor and to his actual requirements. ’ In any legal action, therefore, the courts will have to decide whether the goods in dispute are, as matter of fact, necessaries for that particular minor having regards to his ‘condition in life(or status or standard of living The next question to be considered is whether , even though the goods may be ‘necessaries’ in themselves, the minor is in fact already plentifully supplied with the goods; for one must connect the word’ ‘necessaries’ with the minor’s ‘actual requirements’ at the time of sale and at the time of delivery, where these time are different. 8

Section 69 0 f the Contracts Act, 1950 ‘ If a person, incapable of entering into a contract, or anyone whom he is legally bound to support, is supplied by another person with necessaries suited to his condition in life, the person who has furnished such supplies is entitled to be reimbursed from the prorperty of such incapable person. 9

Educational books Examples of necessaries food Medical attention clothing 10

Plaintiff was Savile Row tailor. The plaintiff sued the defendant for the sum. Nash v Inham The defendant an undergraduate of Trinity College, Cambridge, who was under 21, ordered clothes(including 11 fancy waistcoats)Def’s father , an architect, proved that his son was already supplied with adequate clothes suitable to his condition in life when the clothes made by plaintiff were delivered. That in view of these facts, the plaintiff’s clothes were not ‘necessaries’ and accordingly the action failed 11

The Court held that even though Gurcharan Singh was a minor, he was required to pay back money to the plaintiff due to the plaintiff able to show to the Court that educational is necessaries to the defendant Government of Malaysia v Gurcharan Singh & Ors 12

Contracts for the minor’s benefit The question of what is ‘for the minor’s benefit’ is one for the court to decide from the particular facts of each cases Decided cases show that contract of apprenticeship, training or education fall within this class 13

contract of apprenticeship contract of training contract of educational 14

Doyle v White City Stadium Ltd D, an infant professional boxer, made a contract with the British Boxing Board of Control. A term in the contract provide that if D were disqualified for certain reason, the prize money would be withheld. D fought a contest and was disqualified. He sued the Board to recover money, contending that due to his infancy he was not bound. That D’s action must fail. The agreement was closely analogous to a contract of employment and the contract was on the whole for his benefit, 15

Exceptions on the above mention rule Contracts of scholarship Contracts of Insurance – Insurance Act 1963(Revised 1972) 16

Section 12 of the Contracts Act 1950 ‘ a person is said to be of sound mind for the purpose of making a contract if, at the time when he makes it, he is capable of understanding it and of forming a rational judgment as to its effect upon his interest. ’ 17

Sickness Section 12 includes unsound mind due to: Alcohol Drugs 18