4.  The parties to the contract must assent to it.

The assent must be voluntary.  It may be given by words, by acts, or by accepting the benefits of the offer.  If acceptance is by letter, the contract is complete when the letter of acceptance is mailed.  The parties must assent to the same thing.  Assent imposing a new condition is no assent.

5.  The promise must be for a consideration.

The law will not compel a person to give something for nothing.  But the amount of the consideration is usually unimportant, so long as it is reasonable.  Anything is a consideration which is of benefit to the person promising or of loss or inconvenience to the other.  An illegal consideration is, however, not a consideration; nor is the performance of a moral duty, nor the doing of what would be a legal duty without the promise in question.  If the consideration fails, the contract fails.  One has no right to sue on a contract unless he has performed or offered to perform his part.

6.  The contract must be made without fraud.

Fraud may be practiced in two ways, by making statements known to be false or by concealing facts that ought to be revealed.  But if the parties meet on equal terms, with the same sources of information, and if nothing is done to conceal faults, there is no fraud in law.  “Let the buyer beware,” is an ancient maxim, and a buyer must exercise reasonable diligence and prudence.  Fraud absolves the injured party, but the defrauding party may be held to the contract; that is, the contract is voidable at the option of the party deceived.

7.  Some contracts must be in writing.

The principal classes of commercial contracts which must be in writing to be binding, are:  (a) agreements for the sale of property of more than a certain value; (b) agreements of guaranty; (c) agreements not to be performed within a year.

In the famous English “Statute of Frauds,” which is the basis of the American local statutes on matters referred to in this section, the value of personal property requiring written contract was ten pounds or fifty dollars.  In the United States the value varies in different states from $30 to $200.  But if part of the property is delivered or part of the purchase money is paid the whole contract is binding, even if not in writing.

A guaranty is an agreement by which a person warrants that a certain third person shall duly perform an engagement.  Thus if A obtains goods from B upon the assurance of C that they will be paid for, C is said to guarantee the debt.

A contract which may be performed within a year does not come under the statute, even if such performance seems improbable at the time of making the contract.

The style of the writing is immaterial—­it may be formal or informal, in ink or pencil.  It may be made by the principal or by his agent.

Pertinent Questions.