Page:Harvard Law Review Volume 10.djvu/283

257 HARVARD LAW REVIEW. VOL. X. DECEMBER 26, 1896. NO. 5. IS MERE GAIN TO A PROMISOR A GOOD CONSIDERATION FOR HIS PROMISE.? A CONSIDERATION for a promise is generally defined to be " some gain to the promisor, or some loss to the promisee," using the words gain or loss in the broadest sense ; or, as more fully stated by the Court of Exchequer Chamber in Currie v. Misa,^ " A valuable consideration in the sense of the law may consist either in some right, interest, profit, or benefit accruing to one party, or some forbearance, detriment, loss, or responsibility given, suffered, or undertaken by the other." Many other judges, as well as many elementary writers, have defined the word in this alternative form. The question arises, Is mere gain to the promisor without some corresponding loss to the promisee ever a sufficient consideration? An eminent writer whose views upon any legal question are entitled to the highest respect, seems to think not. Having de- fined consideration to be *' the thing given or done by the promisee in exchange for the promise," he subsequently adds: "It is clear from this definition of a consideration that it must move from the promisee. Indeed, it is of the very essence of consideration that it be received from the promisee. What is received from one person cannot possibly be a consideration for a promise to another person." 1 L. R. 10 Ex. 162. 35