Acting on Request can found Consideration
B had been convicted of murder and was to be hung. L agreed to do what was in his power to obtain a pardon. He succeeded, and B then promised to pay him 100 pounds, but failed to do so, and L now sought recovery.
Held: He succeeded. Though the consideration had preceded the promise, the actions taken were at the defendant’s request. ‘a meer voluntary curtesie will not have a consideration to uphold an assumpsit. But if that curtesie were moved by a suit or request of the party that gives the assumpsit, it will bind, for the promise, though it follows, yet it is not naked, but couples it self with the suit before, and the merits of the party procured by that suit, which is the difference.’
[1615] EWHC KB J17, (1615) Hobart 105, 80 ER 255
Bailii
England and Wales
Contract
Leading Case
Updated: 11 November 2021; Ref: scu.248368