CLAT 2026 Legal Reasoning: Practice Quasi-Contract Caselets

If you are preparing for CLAT 2026 , one area you cannot ignore in Legal Reasoning is the study of quasi-contract caselets. These, in essence, are short cases in which there is no formal contract between two people, but the law comes in to create a liability. Generally speaking, the idea is that if one person has benefited at the expense of another, the law stops him from enjoying this benefit without payment. For instance, if your friend enjoys a free benefit of an electric bill you mistakenly pay, thinking it is yours, the friend is bound to pay you back. These caselets test your ability to assess real-life situations on the basis of fairness. At first, they seem tough, but once you master the method, they become one of the simplest scoring areas in the CLAT exam.

How to Solve Quasi-Contract Caselets in CLAT 2026

Read below to understand how you can solve the quasi-contact caselets for CLAT 2026:

1. Spot the unfair benefit

When you go through the passage, be the first to identify the party that has derived a benefit or receives something without a proper agreement. Most of the questions revolve around this gain only. For example, A sends a parcel of clothes to B's address by mistake, while B retains them instead of returning them. This is a case wherein B has clearly enjoyed the benefits without paying for the same, that is, the "unfair advantage" that you need to recognise. If you miss this, you’ll get lost in the extra details of the caselet.

2. Recall the principle

Once the first unfair advantage is perceived, recall the principle from the Indian Contract Act (Sections 68-72): one who receives a benefit must compensate another, even when no contract exists. It is thus a quasi-contract law that treats it as if a contract existed. For example, if a hotel delivers dinner to the wrong room and the guest eats it, the guest has to pay for the dinner in the eyes of the law. This principle is the backbone of your case; always state it before applying.

3. Apply the principle

The next step is the most important: apply the legal rule to the facts of the case. Do not simply conclude; justify your conclusion. To illustrate, let us return to the example involving clothing. Applying the rule, B utilized the clothing (benefit derived) whereby A suffered a loss, thus rendering B liable to compensate A. There is not much point to B saying, "I haven't asked for it." The law will not accept the excuse, as `equity takes precedence over the contract`.

4. Eliminate extra details from the caselets

The CLAT caselets usually provide some unnecessary sentences so as to confuse you. Train yourself to ignore everything irrelevant and focus solely on the benefit and loss. For instance, the problem may state that B was busy preparing for his exams when the parcel reached him, or that A forgot to write his full name on the parcel. These are all irrelevant details that do not add to the main problem, which was that B derived some advantage in respect of something that belonged to A. By doing so, you save time and eliminate errors as well.

5. Practice under time for better results

Last but not least, the CLAT is a speed test. Even if you know the principle, you should be solving in 1–2 minutes per caselet. Practice in sets of small sets daily. For example, take three past-year quasi-contract questions of your choice and a timer for five minutes. Initially, you would feel rushed, but soon your brain will learn to identify the unjust enrichment faster. This practice will help to ensure that when it comes to examination day, these questions seem to be “free marks” rather than a way to panic.

Although quasi-contract caselets may appear to be mini-stories, they test fairness in the law. The law asks, “Who benefited at the unfair expense of another, and should that person compensate?” With this approach in mind, answering becomes easy. Regular practice will help develop reading, analysis, and answering skills for such caselets, possibly in less than two minutes. That means more time for tougher sections and a higher overall score in CLAT 2026. If you want to strengthen your prep further, don’t miss our guide on CLAT 2026 Important Topics & Subject Wise Weightage.