Statutes Dispensing With Consideration

This lesson assumes you are familiar with the requirement of consideration and the rule that past consideration is not good consideration. Ordinarily, a promise is legally binding only if that promise is supported by a consideration. As the student may recall, "past consideration" is a misnomer. If a party makes a promise to pay for a benefit previously conferred, there is no consideration for the promise because the benefit was not bargained for in exchange for the promise. This lesson covers one of the exceptions to this general rule.

Learning Outcomes

On completion of the lesson, the student will be able to:

1. Distinguish between fact situations where a contract requires consideration and the exceptions where no consideration is required.
2. Analyze whether a statute dispensing with consideration applies to a particular fact pattern.