Doctrine Of Consideration In Contract Law

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The doctrine of consideration is a feature of English contract law and it has been the subject of significant criticism. It has been argued that there is no need of consideration anymore in relation to the formation of a contract. A consideration means that ‘’ a promisee cannot enforce a promise unless he has given or promised to give something in exchange for the promise or unless the promisor has obtained something in return.’’ In other words a contract must contain an offer made by the promisor and acceptance of the offer by the promisee and then there must be consideration otherwise there will be no contract. The classic definition of consideration was adopted by Lush J in the case of Currie v. Misa where he stated: ‘’A valuable consideration, in the sense of the law, may consist either in some right, interest, profit, or benefit accruing to the one party, or some forbearance, detriment, loss, or responsibility, given, suffered, or undertaken by the other.’’…show more content…
Both parties must provide something in exchange of the other’s promise. If a contract is made by deed there is no need of consideration because there is a document containing promises. Furthermore, it must be noted the difference between unilateral and bilateral contracts in relation to consideration. In bilateral contract there is a promise from both parties to do something as value of consideration whereas a unilateral contract is more complex because it binds only one party which make a promise. This means that the other party has no obligation until they accept the contract. A good example is the Carbolic Smoke Ball
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