धारा 40

Section 40 of the Indian Contract Act, 1872, deals with the guiding principle in determining what is meant by impossible. It states: "The impossibility contemplated by this Act must be an absolute and not a relative impossibility; that is to say, it must be an impossibility in fact, and not merely an impossibility in law, or an impossibility arising from the inability of the party to perform the act, or from the non-existence of the thing, or from any other cause which makes it impossible for the party to perform the act, or to do the thing, as the case may be." This implies that when determining whether an event is impossible, the court must consider whether the impossibility is absolute or relative. The section further explains that if the impossibility is absolute, the contract is void, but if the impossibility is relative, the contract is not void. The Indian courts have interpreted this section to mean that the concept of impossibility is crucial in determining the validity of a contract.