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Consideration

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Consideration is one of the elements that are required to form a contract. In consideration, both parties must promise to give or do something for the other. (Note: if a contract is made by deed, then consideration is not needed.) In other word, consideration can be described as the mutual rights and promises made by the parties to a contract. This can be either a promise to do something that a person not legally obligated to do, or a promise not to do something that a person have the right to do (often, this means a promise not to file a lawsuit).
There are a lot of rules that must be taken in order to govern consideration. One of them is consideration can be present or future, but not past. Present consideration is executed when the consideration is performed at the time the contract is made. As an example, Lin offers RM100.00 reward for the return of her lost handbag, if Alex finds the bag and returns it, Lin's consideration is executed. Meanwhile, future consideration will happen when there is an exchange of promises to perform acts in the future. For example, Mei promises to deliver goods to John at a future date and John promises to pay on delivery. If Mei does not deliver them, this is a breach of contract and John can sue.
However, past consideration is not a valid consideration and has no legal value. Past consideration arises when a promisee’s action has happened before the promisor made his promise. This can be proved in the Roscorla v. Thomas case. In this case, Roscorla purchased a horse from Thomas and demanded a promise from Thomas that the horse was sound and free from vice. However, Roscorla demanded the promise after the contract was completed. Thomas agreed to that promise and subsequently the horse was vicious. Roscorla sued for breach of the contract. The court held that there was no breach of contract as the contract had already been

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