296 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
(ii) Conditional by express terms—
(iii) Conditional by implication—continued existence of the subject-matter of the thing in Sec. 56 Contract Act.—subsequent in possibility—the Contract is void.
might on two grounds.—
(i) The thing agreed to is physically or legally impossible.
(ii) The subject matter of the contract is non-existent.
Such Impossibility might be either.—
(i) Initial or subsequent.
If impossible, the contract is void and no question of Specific Performace arises whether the impossibility is initial or subsequent.
Section 13 of the Specific Relief Act establishes an exception to Section 56 of the Contract Act in respect of one species of impossibility i.e. impossibility by reason of non-existence of the subject-matter.
Section 13 says that Specific Performance of a contract may be enforced even though the subject-matter is partly destroyed.
Sale of a house—Destruction by cyclone—purchaser may be compelled to perform.
Section 13 enacts an exception
It deals with the case where a portion of the subject matter ceases to exist.
The rule shortly expressed.—
Because A, owing to special inevitable circumstances, is unable to perform his promise, it is no reason why B should not perform his, especially as he might have protected himself by making the performance of his promise conditional upon performance by A. Having made an unqualified promise he must stand by it.
Specific Performance of a Part of a Contract
Can the Court decree the peformance of a part of the contract? This question is dealt with in Section 14-17.
Section 17 enacts a general rule. It lays that the Court will not, as a general rule, compel specific performance of a Contract, unless it can execute the whole contract. Specific performance must be of the whole or nothing.