The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1906-03-15

general principles ofcontracts Is evident.
Some persons use the words agree
ment' and contract" rs synonymous,
that is, as meaning the same thing. A
contract is always an agreement, either
expressed or understood, but an agree
ment is not always a contract. l may
make an agreement with you to spend
the evening at your home, but that
agreement is mol contract am bound
by vba rules of etiquette and good morals
to fulfill the agreement, but l am not
bound by the law to fulfill 1t, and IN
case | do not fulfill it, am not bound
by the law to suffer damages by reason
of my failure; nor could you go into a
court and compel me to fulfill it.
Therefore, one distinction between a
contract and an agreement is that the
former is an agreement enforcible at
law, that il, an agreement that the law,
will either compel me to perform, or
will compel me to pay damages for tail-
ing to perform, while the latter is not so
enforcible.
Another distinction between an agree.
ment and a contract is this: The law
saws that in contract a man contem-
plates legal relations, that Is, he intends
to put himself under legal obligations,
and in an agreement he does not so in
tend, his purpose being merely to bind
himself by social obligation. We
have nothing TO do in these talks with
merely social obligations; we treat only
of such engagements or agreements as
the law holds binding.
We distinguish, too, between kinds of
contracts for instance, a contract may
be express or it may be implied An
express contract is one where the terms
are expressed or stated, either orally or
in writing. An implied contract is one
where the facts in connection with the
matter are such that the law will infer
certain things. If go into store where
| have credit, take up an article, and say
to the clerk, Il will take this. Charge
il to me, )" the contract is not an express
contract; there is no price set, no time OF
payment indicated, no promise of pay
ment. The law, however, infers that |
have made a promise to pay reasonable
price for the article in reasonable or
the customary time.
We often hear it said that contract
is not good without a consideration ,
or that a contract must have con
sideration' to support it. The meaning
of this is simply that a promise cannot
be enforced in law unless something is
paid or promised to be paid for the
the promise is made has done something
or suffered some loss by depending on
the promise. If promise to make you
u present and fail to do SO, you cannot
bold me in law accountable for break
ing my promise. no matter now much
inconvenience or unhappiness 1t may
cause you. If, however, | promise to do
something for you or give you some
thing in consideration of your paying
me something, no matter how small or
doing something for me- or suffering
some loss, ! can be held to the promise.
1t is in this sense that the law requires
that in order for Il promise to be bind
ing, it must have consideration-an
other word for price
1t used to be said that whenever a
promise was under seal, that is, where
it was in writing and the promsor at.
tached to his name his seal, the law
would forbid the promisor from denying
that there was consideration. In other
words, the fact that seal appeared on
the promise was evidence conclusive
that there was u consideration received,
and in a suit at law to compel the per
Torrance of the promise the promisor
could not bring in evidence to the effect
that he had received nothing for the
promise, and therefore was not bound
by it. Our present law, however, has
almost wholly done away with this tic-
ton. Now the consideration of apromise
may be inquired into, whether it be un-
der seal or not.
1t must not be thought that in order
TO support a promise the other party
must necessarily grc something or
promise to gre something If he is to
lose or suffer something or promises to
give up something, the consideration IS
a valid one If | promise to give you n
hundred dollars if you stop smoking for
six months, and, depending upon my
months, | am bound to pay the one
hundred dollars. In this case you have
not given anything or promised to give
ruy.hirg to me, but You suffered loss,
,r have given up something, depending
upon the promise. 1t has always been
held that promise is good considera-
ton for II promise, that is, my promise
to do something for You, if given in ex.
change for promise by you to do some
thing for me, makes valid contract
The most common example of this sort
of Il contract is the marriage contract,
under which each party promises and
the premise of each is consideration
for the promise of the other.
Sometimes ii is not an easy matter to
Ii .,.LutLu. IL.