Question

In your own words, what is consideration? Provide an example (real life or hypothetical, but not a published online case) of adequate consideration OR lack of consideration. Explain the circumstances surrounding your example - e.g. what did each person say, etc. Then explain how the facts you detail constitute adequate consideration or lack of consideration.

For example:

My two year-old is precariously holding his Winnie the Pooh cup (with no lid) filled with milk. He's standing on the carpet with that look in his eye (parents, you know THE LOOK) as if to say, if you don't do what I want RIGHT NOW, I'm going to dump this entire cup of milk on the carpet. I quickly say "I promise to feed you, clothe you, and pay for your boxes & boxes of diapers (since no, you aren't potty trained yet), if you please refrain from pouring your Winnie the Pooh cup of milk on the carpet."

This is an example of a lack of consideration. I have a preexisting legal duty (p.215) to feed, clothe, and pay for all of those diapers for my 2 year-old, thus, there was no legally sufficient value given. Also, although I felt like I was 'bargaining' with my 2 year-old, per the objective theory of contracts, there was no actual 'bargained-for exchange.' (This is all besides the fact that a 2 year-old cannot be a contracting party.). Consequently, there was a lack of consideration in my hypothetical & he poured the milk on the carpet anyway …

Answer 1

Consideration to me is being mindful of another person's desires, thoughts, and feelings and acting carefully in accordance to those. I would like to cite a personal example of lack of consideration (as I am able to recall a lot more situations when that happened).

A bunch of my classmates and I were hanging out at a friend's place one evening. It got quite late in the night. I had my bicycle along and intended to cycle back to my place (which was not very far off). However, one of my female classmates expressed fear of going back home alone at 1 am in the night. Since her house was located quite close to mine, I decided to ditch my cycle and share a taxi with her so that I could drop her first and then take the taxi to my place.

I sat in the taxi when it arrived, but then this girl said to me, "The lane to my house is too narrow for the taxi to get into, there's also some construction work going on. Why don't you take the taxi back home and I take your cycle?"

I went to her place the next morning to collect my cycle and found that there were no obstructions in the road. The road could have definitely accommodated that taxi.

I would definitely call it a lack of consideration on her part. I took pains to ensure her comfort and safety but she took unfair advantage even manipulated me into doing something that only benefitted her.