Truth. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1901-1908, 1906-04-14
POPULAR TALKS ON LAW,


words, that every contract must have
TWO sides; and the further rule that
the consideration, or that which is
agreed to be given for the promise.
must not be something which the
promiser is already bound in law to
give, has frequent application in cases
OF settlements of existing debts. A
man owes me, we will say, $500, and
the debt is overdue. l say to him,
Pay me $3.50 now and | will release
you from the remainder of the debt"
HE pays me $3.50, relying on my prom
Use. Am l bound in law to release him
from the remainder of the debt? No.
because the consideration for my
promise to release him was his pay
ing me $3.50, something which he was
already bound in law to do. If, how
ever, he had agreed to do something
more than he was already bound to do,
as for instance, to pay $3.50 at some
place other than that provided in the
original contract, or to pay me $3.50
and do some specified service, then
that which was agreed to be done
over and above the mere payment of
the $3.50 would be considered in the
law sufficient consideration to SUD-
port the agreement to release the
DEBTOR from the remainder of the
debt.
| 1t is held, however, that if a man
owes me 800 overdue, and agree to
accept something other than money.
as, say, horse in full payment. /
cannot thereafter claim that the horse
was not worth 500, and that there
| 6nhtnr OF
ference between the value of the horse
and the hundred dollars on the ground
OF no consideration. If one pays some
thing other than money, whatever it's
value, in full satisfaction of his debt,
and the creditor accepts it, the debt
is discharged as completely as If it
had been fully paid in money.
Then, too, if the debt is not yet due,
the creditors agreement to accept a
part of it at once in full discharge of
the whole debt is good, as in that
case the consideration is payment be-
fore the debt is due, and that is a
new something the
debtor was not bound to do.
| Where the debt is uncertain in
amount, or is in dispute, it is held that
a promise to give release on the pay
ment of certain amount of money is
good, even although it may be after
wards found that the real amount due
was more.
| If a creditor receives in full payment
from his debtor some obligation due
the debtor from a third person, the
debt is discharged, even although the
transferred debt is smaller than the
one for which it is given in payment.
If a person to whom a debt is due
agrees to accept negotiable promis.
sorry note for less amount than the
debt and gives a discharge, he is
bound to do so, the theory being that
the advantage the creditor gets from
the note, it being negotiable, is suf-
ficient consideration.
1t was held that a promise of extra
pay to sailors in consideration of their
agreeing to finish voyage for which
they had signed articles was without
consideration. So was a promise to
| pay a witness for attendance at court
more than the fees prescribed by law
So was a promise to reward an officer
for arresting a criminal whom the du-
| ties of his Office required him to ar
rest.
The whole question as to whether or
not a promise to pay less than the
whole debt will discharge the debt