CONCEPTS FROM LAW:

INDIAN CONTRACT ACT:

13. "Consent" defined .– Two or more persons are said to consent when they agree upon the same thing in the same sense.

14. "Free consent" defined.- Consent is said to be free when it is not caused by –
(1) coercion, as defined in section 15, or
(2) undue influence, as defined in section 16, or
(3) fraud, as defined in section 17, or
(4) misrepresentation, as defined in section 18, or
(5) mistake, subject to the provisions of sections 20, 21 and 22.
Consent is said to be so caused when it would not have been given but for the existence of such coercion, undue influence, fraud, misrepresentation or mistake.

15. "Coercion" defined .– "Coercion" is the committing, or threatening to commit, any act forbidden by the Indian Penal Code, or the unlawful detaining, or threatening to detain, any property, to the prejudice of any person whatever, with the intention of causing any person to enter into an agreement. (45 of 1860.)
Explanation.-It is immaterial whether the Indian Penal Code is or is not in force in the place where the coercion is employed. (45 of 1860.)
Illustration
A, on board an English ship on the high seas, causes B to enter into an agreement by an act amounting to criminal intimidation under the Indian Penal Code. (45 of 1860.) A after wards sues B for breach of contract at Calcutta.
A has employed coercion, although his act is not an offense by the law of England, and although section 506 of the Indian Penal Code was not in force at the time when or place where the act was done.(45 of 1860.)

16. "Undue influence" defined. defined .- (1) A contract is said to be induced by "undue influence” where the relations subsisting between the parties are such that one of the parties is in a position to dominate the will of the other and uses that position to obtain an unfair advantage over the other.
(2) In particular and without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing principle, a person is deemed to be in a position to dominate the will of another-
(a) where he holds a real or apparent authority over the other or where he stands in a fiduciary relation to the other; or
(b) where he makes a contract with a person whose mental capacity is temporarily or permanently affected by reason of age, illness, or mental or bodily distress.
(3) Where a person who is in a position to dominate the will of another, enters into a contract with him, and the transaction appears, on the face of it or on the evidence adduced, to be unconscionable, the burden of proving that such contract was not induced by undue influence shall lie upon the person in a position to dominate the will of the other.
Nothing in this sub-section shall affect the provisions of section Ill of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872. (1of 1872.)
Illustrations
(a) A having advanced money to his son, B during his minority, upon B's coming of age obtains, by misuse of parental influence, a bond from B for a greater amount than the sum due in respect of the advance. A employs undue influence.
(b) A, a man enfeebled by disease or age, is induced, by B's influence over him as his medical attendant, to agree to pay B an unreasonable sum for his professional services. B employs undue influence.
(c) A, being in debt to B, the money-lender of his village, contracts a fresh loan on terms which appear to be unconscionable. It lies on B to prove that the contract was not induced by undue influence.
(d) A applies to a banker for a loan at a time when there is stringency in the money market. The banker declines to make the loan except at an unusually high rate of interest. A accepts the loan on these terms. This is a transaction in the ordinary course of business, and the contract is not induced by undue influence.

17. "Fraud" defined .- "Fraud" means and includes any of the following acts committed by a party to a contract, or with his connivance, or by his agent, with intent to deceive another party thereto of his agent, or to induce him to enter into the contract:-
(1) the suggestion, as a fact, of that which is not true, by one who does not believe it to be true;
(2) the active concealment of a fact by one having knowledge or belief of the fact;
(3) a promise made without any intention of performing it
(4) any other act fitted to deceive;
(5) any such act or omission as the law specially declares to be fraudulent.
Explanation.- Mere silence as to facts likely to affect the willingness of a person to enter into a contract is not fraud, unless the circumstances of the case are such that, regard being had to them, it is the duty of the person keeping silence to speak, or unless his silence is, in itself, equivalent to speech.
Illustrations
(a) A sells, by auction, to B, a horse; which; A knows to be unsound. A says nothing to B about the horse's unsoundness. This is not fraud in A.
(b) B is A's daughter and has just come of age. Here, the relation between the parties would make it A's duty to tell B if the horse, is unsound.
(c) B says to A - "If you do not deny it, I shall assume that the horse is sound." A says nothing. Here, A's silence is equivalent to speech.
(d) A and B, being traders, enter upon a contract. A has private information of a change in prices which would affect B's willingness to proceed with the contract. A is not bound to inform B.

18. "Misrepresentation" defined. – "Misrepresentation" means and includes –
(1) The positive assertion, in a manner not warranted by the information of the person making it, of that which is not true, though he believes it to be true
(2) any breach, of duty which, without an intent to deceive, gains an advantage to the person committing it, or any one claiming under him, by misleading another to his prejudice or to the prejudice of any one claiming under him;
(3) Causing, however innocently, a party to an agreement to make a mistake as to the substance of the thing which is the subject of the agreement.

LAW OF TORTS:

NUISANCE

Substantial interference with the right to use and enjoy land, which may be intentional, negligent or ultrahazardous in origin, and must be a result of defendant's activity.

This word means literally annoyance; in law, it signifies, according to Blackstone, " anything that worketh hurt, inconvenience or damage."

Nuisances are either public or common, or private nuisances.

A public or common nuisance is such an inconvenience or troublesome offence, as annoys the whole community in general, and not merely some particular person. To constitute a Public nuisance, there must be such 'a number of persons annoyed, that the offense can no longer be considered a private nuisance: this is a fact to be judged of by the jury. It is difficult to define what degree of annoyance is necessary to constitute a nuisance. In relation to offensive trades, it seems that when such a trade renders the enjoyment of life and property uncomfortable, it is a nuisance for the neighborhood have a right to pure and fresh air.

A thing may be a nuisance in one place, which-is not so in another; therefore the situation or locality of the nuisance must be considered. A tallow chandler seeing up his baseness among other tallow chandlers, and increasing the noxious smells of the neighborhood, is not guilty of setting up a nuisance, unless the annoyance is much increased by the new manufactory. Such an establishment might be a nuisance-in a thickly populated town of merchants and mechanics where no such business was carried on.

Public nuisances arise in consequence of following particular trades by which the air is rendered offensive and noxious. From acts of public indecency; as bathing in a public river in sight of the neighboring houses or for acts tending to a breach of the public peace, as for drawing a number of persons into a field for the purpose of pigeon-shooting, to the disturbance of the neighborhood or keeping a disorderly house or a gaming house or a bawdy house or a dangerous animal, known to be such and suffering him to go at large, as a large bull-dog accustomed to bite people or exposing a person having a contagious disease, as the smallpox, in public and the like.

A private nuisance is anything done to the hurt or annoyance of the lands, tenements, or hereditaments of another.

These are such as are injurious to corporeal inheritances; as, for example, if a man should build his house so as to throw the rain water which fell on it, on my land or erect his building, without right, so as to obstruct my ancient lights; keep hogs or other animals so as to incommode his neighbor and render the air unwholesome.
Private nuisances may also be injurious to incorporeal hereditaments. If, for example, I have a way annexed to my estate, across another man's land, and he obstruct me in the use of it, by plowing it up or laying logs across it and the like.

The remedies for a public nuisance are by indicting the party.
Labor Law:

LABOUR LAW

Definition of Industry

As per Section 2(j) of Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 “Industry” means any systematic activity carried on by co-operation between an employer and his workmen(whether such workmen are employed by such employer directly or by or through any agency, including a contractor) for the production ,supply or distribution of goods or services with a view to satisfy human wants or wishes (not being wants or wishes which are merely spiritual or religious in nature), whether or not,-

(i) any capital has been invested for the purpose of carrying on such activity; or
(ii) such activity is carried on with a motive to make any gain or profit, and includes-
(a) any activity of the Dock Labour Board established under section 5-A of the Dock Workers ( Regulation of Employment)Act,1948( 9 of 1948);
(b) any activity relating to the promotion of sales or business or both carried on by an establishment,
but does not include-
1) any agricultural operation except where such agricultural operation is carried on in an integrated manner with any other activity (being any such activity as is referred to in the foregoing provisions of this clause) and such other activity is the predominant one.
Explanation:- For the purposes of this sub-clause ,” agricultural operation” does not include any activity carried on in a plantation as defined in clause (f) of section 2 of the Plantation Labour Act,1951; or

2) hospitals or dispensaries; or
3) educational, scientific, research to training institutions ; or
4) institutions owned or managed by organizations wholly or substantially engaged in any charitable ,social or philanthropic service; or
5) khadi or village industries ; or
6) any activity of the Government relatable to the sovereign functions of the Government including all the activities carried on by the departments of the Central Governments dealing with defence research , atomic energy and space ; or
7) any domestic service ;or
8) any activity ,being a profession practiced by an individual or body of individuals ,if the number of persons employed by the individuals or body of individuals in relation to such profession is less than ten; or
9) any activity , being an activity carried on by a co-operative society or a club or any other like body of individuals , if the number of persons employed by the co-operative society ,club or other like body of individuals in relation to such activity is less than ten;