Section 95

Section 95 of the Indian Contract Act, 1872, addresses contracts to do things that are impossible. The section states that a person who has entered into a contract to do a thing which he knew, or, with reasonable diligence, might have known, and which the other party to the contract did not know, to be impossible or unlawful, must make compensation to the other party for any loss which such other party has sustained through the contract, unless such party knew himself that the thing was impossible or unlawful. The actual statutory language is: 'A person who has entered into a contract to do a thing which he knew, or, with reasonable diligence, might have known, and which the other party to the contract did not know, to be impossible or unlawful, must make compensation to the other party for any loss which such other party has sustained through the contract, unless such party knew himself that the thing was impossible or unlawful.' Judicial interpretations have emphasized that the person entering into the contract must have known or should have known of the impossibility or unlawfulness of the act.