- Law does not compel to do the impossible.

This phrase is used in the Supreme Court judgement we are carrying today.

“There can be no doubt that a man may by an absolute contract bind himself to perform which subsequently however becomes impossible, or to pay damages for the non-performance and this interpretation is to be placed upon an unqualified undertaking, where the event which causes the impossibility was or might have been anticipated and guarded against in the contract, or where the impossibility arises from the act or default of the promissor. But where the event is of such a character that it cannot reasonably be supposed to have been in the contemplation of the contracting parties when the contract was made, they will not be held bound by general words which, though large enough to include, were not used with reference to the possibility of the particular contingency which afterwards happened. It is on this principle that the act of God is in some cases said to excuse the breach of a contract. Though impossibility of performance is in general no excuse for not performing an obligation which a party has expressly undertaken by contract, yet when the obligation is one implied by law, impossibility of performance is a good excuse.

Industrial Finance Corporation of India Ltd., Vs. Cannanore Spinning and Weaving Mills Ltd.and others, AIR 2002 SCOURT 1841

Lex non cogit ad impossibilia. The law does not compel to impossible ends.
Lex non intendi aliquid impossibile. The law does not intend anything impossible.
Lex neminem cogit ad vana seu inutilia peragenda. The law forces no one to do vain or useless things.

Maxim -lex non cogit ad impossibilia- Law cannot compel a person to do impossible - Unforeseen circumstance beyond control of assessee resulting in non-payment of duty would not mean that there was failure to pay the duty by due date – Bombay High Court in INDIAN SEAMLESS STEEL AND ALLOYS LTD. V UOI.

If the laws could speak for themselves they would complain of the lawyers in the first place.

(Lord Halifax (1633-1695) Political Thoughts and Reflections)