Also known as: wants of consideration · absence of consideration · lack of consideration
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
The absence of any bargained-for exchange or value given in return for a promise. A promise lacking this element receives no enforcement as a contract.
Wendy Wu chartered a vessel from Winterhaven Logistics for a fixed price. After departure the carrier demanded an extra sum citing rough seas and took a slightly longer route. Wendy refused the added payment. The carrier's demand fails because it received nothing beyond the original performance obligation.
Wellesley Media, a merchant, sent Wolverine Steel a signed writing offering to sell steel at a set price and stating the offer would remain open for sixty days. Wolverine did not separately sign the assurance clause. Wellesley later revoked before acceptance. The revocation succeeds because the assurance term lacked the required separate signature.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Winston Ward promised his nephew Wade Watson $5,000 if Wade refrained from drinking and gambling until age twenty-one. Wade performed the requested forbearance. Winston's estate refused payment claiming no consideration. The court enforces the promise because Wade's forbearance supplied the required exchange.
Walter Washington loaned money to a borrower who directed Whitney White to repay Walter instead. Whitney promised the borrower to make the payment. Walter sued Whitney after nonpayment. The promise is enforceable because the borrower's direction supplied consideration between the original parties.
Watershed Pharmaceuticals solicited bids for paving work. Star Paving submitted a bid that Drennan used in its own prime contract. Star attempted to revoke after Drennan's reliance. The revocation is ineffective because Drennan's foreseeable reliance on the bid created an option preventing revocation for lack of consideration.
Want of consideration means no bargained-for exchange ever existed to support the promise. Failure of consideration means the promised exchange was given but later proved inadequate or did not occur.
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A bargained-for written release supplies consideration if the claim was doubtful in fact or law or if the releasing party reasonably believed it might be valid. A release known to be groundless from the outset does not count.
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Performance of a preexisting duty supplies no consideration when the duty is neither doubtful nor honestly disputed. The party must undertake a new legal detriment or forgo a legal right not already owed.
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A signed record by a merchant that gives assurance the offer will be held open prevents revocation for lack of consideration during the stated time or a reasonable time not exceeding three months. Any assurance term on a form supplied by the offeree requires separate signature by the offeror.
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…verdict of the jury. But it is claimed that notwithstanding this promise was established by competent evidence, it was void for want of consideration. It is now more than a quarter of a century since it was settled by the Supreme Court of this State in an able and painstaking opinion by the late Chief Justice Savage, in which the…