ECONOMICS

摘要

Oliver Hart and BengtHolmström were jointly awarded The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, commonly referred to as Nobel Prize in Econmics "for their contributions to contract theory ". Before getting the contributions of Professors Hart and Holmström, it is desirable to have a look into the connotation of contract - the importance of the issue that fetches a Nobel Prize. In Indian legal parlance, generally speaking, an agreement enforceable by law is referred to as the contract. On elaborating, a little, it may be mentioned that all agreements are contracts if they are made by the free consent of parties competent to contract, for a lawful consideration and with a lawful object, and are not hereby expressly declared to be void. Looking at the keywords in the definition it may be observed that there is inter alia emphasis on free consent and competence. Two or more persons are said to consent when they agree upon the same thing in the same sense and free consent is considered when it would not have been given but for the existence of such coercion, undue influence, fraud, misrepresentation, or mistake. Every person is competent to contract who has attained maturity and who is of sound mind and is not disqualified from contracting by any law. Without elaborating further, it may be mentioned that there are some essential components of contract, but most importantly, there has to be a proposal/ offer and acceptance for having contract. And there cannot be contract for unethical purpose say for committing a crime; in that case it will be null and void ab initio. It is more than obvious that contract has economic implications in addition to legal bindings. In this context it may be noted that this foregoing concept of contract in India is in vogue since the last quarter of the nineteenth century and is based on the British model. But there are still ancient instances, found in archaeological excavation near the edge of Mediterranean, of contract in form of an agreement, written literally on stone, taking place in the ancient Greek city of Teos about 2200 years ago; a fifty line property agreement has been found as chiseled inscription on white marble.