Section 74 of the Contract Act provides: "When a contract has been broken, if a sum is named in the contract as the amount to be paid in case (1) A.I.R. 1926 P.C. 1 932 of such breach, or if the contract contains any other stipulation by way of penalty, the party complaining of the breach is entitled, whether or not actual damage or loss is proved to have been caused thereby, to receive from the party who has broken the contract reasonable compensation not exceeding the amount so named or, as the case may be, the penalty stipulated for. . . . . . " There is authority, no doubt coloured by the view which was taken in English cases, that section 74 of the Contract Act has no application to cases of deposit for due performance of a contract which is stipulated to be forfeited for breach: Natesa Aiyar vs Appavu Padayachi(1); Singer Manufacturing Company vs Raja Prosad(2); Manian Patter vs The Madras Railway Company(a).