Читать книгу Canadian Business Contracts Handbook - Nishan Swais - Страница 30

The law requires that consideration must be sufficient, which means that the things of value exchanged between the persons who are contracting must be real or tangible.

In our example, the exchange of money for a car involves two real and tangible items of value. In our exchange of opinions, the value is not tangible and not real. To put it another way, the value may be real in an abstract sense but not in a way that anyone can measure, at least not without resorting to further abstractions.

Note that the law only requires sufficient consideration, not the best or even good consideration. In other words, the law just wants to ensure that the things exchanged meet the threshold of having some real value, regardless of how small. If you want to sell a box of old postage stamps for a dime, that is consideration enough in the eyes of the law and sufficient consideration to form a contract. It need not be a car that is being sold. Nor is there a monetary threshold to be met in the amount paid in order to be considered sufficient consideration.

Note also that consideration does not have to involve money. If, instead of $10,000, your friend gave his vintage guitar to you in exchange for your car, that would also constitute value exchanged and, hence, sufficient consideration. Alternatively, if instead of $10,000 or a vintage guitar, the offeree agreed to fix your plumbing in exchange for your car (e.g., offer valuable services), that too would constitute sufficient consideration.

Finally, note that it can also be considered sufficient consideration if, in exchange for a benefit, the person receiving the benefit merely suffers some sort of detriment, rather than give a benefit in return. In our example, it may be sufficient consideration if your friend, in exchange for receiving the benefit of your car, suffers the detriment of no longer playing his guitar late into the evening.