66. Obligation of person who has received advantage under void agreement or contract that becomes void

When an agreement is discovered to be void, or when a contract becomes void, any person who has received any advantage under such agreement or contract is bound to restore it, or to make compensation for it, to the person from whom he received it.

Illustrations

A pays B $1,000 in consideration of B’s promising to marry C, A’s daughter. C is dead at the time of the promise. The agreement is void but B must repay A the $1,000.

A contracts with B to deliver to him 250 gantangs of rice before 1st May.

A, a singer, contracts with B, the manager of a theatre, to sing at his theatre for two nights in every week during the next 2 months and B engages to pay her $100 for each night’s performance. On the sixth night, A wilfully absents herself from the theatre and B, in consequence, rescinds the contract. B must pay A for the five nights on which she had sung.

A contracts to sing for B at a concert for $1,000 which are paid in advance. A is too ill to sing. A is not bound to make compensation to B for the loss of the profits which B would have made if A had been able to sing but must refund to B the $1,000 paid in advance.