The plaintiff, The Government of Malaysia, entered into an agreement with
the first defendant ,Gucharan Singh, whereby the plaintiff would provide a course of training at a Malayan Teacher's Training Institution for the defendant and in
return, the first defendant had to serve the plaintiff as a teacher for 5 years upon completing the course. As agreed, the first defendant served the plaintiff as a teacher after completing the course from 1st January 1962 to 4th August 1968 except for the period between 18th May 1964 to 29th January 1967 where the first
defendant’s service was suspended to enable him to further his studies and this was consented by the plaintiff by agreement. However, the first defendant later resigned. Thus, after deducting the duration when the first defendant’s service was suspended for his studies, the first defendant only completed his service for 3 years and 10 months, in contradiction to what was agreed earlier, which was 5 years. Thus, the plaintiff sued the first defendant for breaching the contract and the second and third defendants, as sureties of the contract, were sued for compensation. The defendants argued that at the time of entering into the contract, the first defendant was a minor and thus the contract should be void. On the other hand, the plaintiff argued that the provision of the training is a necessary and therefore should be an exception of the law that a contract with a minor is void
Judgement
1) The contract entered into by the first defendant was void as he was an infant
at the relevant time.
2) Sureties’ liability is co-extensive with that of the principal debtor. Since the first defendant was not liable, the second and third defendants were not liable as well.
3) The word "necessaries" must be construed broadly and in the circumstances of this case, the provision of professional or vocational training for the first defendant in a Teacher's Training Institution to enable him to be qualified for and accept appointment as a teacher was a provision for necessaries.
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