Law of Contract, Case Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Law of Contract, Case Law - Essay Example Mutual assent is manifested in an offer, acceptance, and consideration. An offer is an indication by one party, offeror of a willingness to enter into a contract with another party, offered on some specific terms. A valid offer creates a power exclusively in the hands of the offeree such that all that is needed to form a contract is acceptance. If one or more of the terms are missing from the offer, a court may supply those terms. Acceptance is an unequivocal indication that the offeree agrees. nothing. The scope of Consideration arises from when a person makes promise to another; he does so with the intention of deriving some advantage which the person to whom the proposal is made is capable of conferring upon him. In this sense we can define consideration as a legal detriment bargained for in exchange, i.e. agreeing to do something which you have no legal obligation to do or agreeing not to do something which you have a legal right to do. In Currie Vs Misa (2)the term consideration defined as " a valuable consideration in the eye of law may consist either in some right, Interest, profit or benefit accruing, to the one party ,or some forbearance, and detriment, loss or responsibility given, suffered, or undertaken by the other." In Dunlop v Selfridge (3) the consideration is defined as "an act or forbearance of one party, or the promise thereof, is the price for which the promise of the other is bought, and the promise thus given for value is enforceable." From all these definitions and explanations of consideration it is apparent that an act without consideration is not legally binding; it is a so-called naked act, which does not give rise to a right of action.There exist some rules governing the Consideration. 1. If one party voluntarily performs an act, and the other party then makes a promise, the consideration for the promise is said to be in the past. The rule is that past consideration is no consideration, so it is not valid and cannot be used to sue on a contract. 2. Consideration must be sufficient but need not be adequate. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2. Currie Vs Misa 1875 LR 10 Ex. 153 3. Dunlop v Selfridge 1915 AC 847 3 3. The person who wishes to enforce the contract must show that they provided consideration; it is not enough to show