Wis JI-Civil 3020

[Insert first paragraph of 3010 and first paragraph of 3012 if desired.]

Consideration is an essential element of a contract; it is necessary to the validity and

enforceability of a contract.

Consideration is the price bargained and paid for a promise – that is, something

intended by the parties to be given in exchange for the promise.

Consideration is an act or a promise which is either a detriment incurred by the

offeree, or a benefit received by the offeror, at the request of the offeror, either of which does

not occur gratuitously, but which is accepted and regarded as consideration by both the

offeror and the offeree. Detriment as used here means any act which occasioned the offeree

the slightest trouble or inconvenience, and which the offeree was not otherwise obliged to

perform or refrain from performing. Benefit as used here means anything of slight or trifling

value to the offeror.

[For a detriment to the offeree, or a benefit to the offeror, to rise to the status of

consideration in a legal sense, the forbearance, detriment, loss or responsibility borne by the

one party, or the right, interest, profit or benefit accruing to the other party, must not consist

of an already existing legal obligation.]

It is not a proper function of the jury to determine whether the consideration is a fair

and adequate exchange for the promise. Fairness and adequacy are for the offeror and offeree

to judge for themselves. Any legal consideration, no matter how slight, will be sufficient.

However, the mere inconvenience of making or receiving a promise is not itself

consideration. [Love and affection alone are not sufficient to support a contract.]

[If consideration is sufficient in other respects, it does not matter from whom or to

whom it moves. The consideration may move to the offeror or a third person, and may be

given by the offeror or a third person.]

[Mutual promises for the future performance of acts by the parties may constitute

consideration for each other if the promises are capable of being performed, are given in

exchange for each other, and are mutually binding upon the parties. The promises must be

equally binding upon both parties, but it is not necessary that the value of the promises be

equal.]

[Something given or received before the time a promise is made, and therefore

without reference to such promise, is past consideration which is not sufficient to support a

contract.]

[A moral obligation may operate as consideration where the offeror has previously

received a material pecuniary benefit from the offeree who expected to be compensated

therefor and who was not under an existing legal or moral duty to confer the benefit without

compensation. Thus, reaffirmation of a past legal obligation, such as a debt that has been

discharged in bankruptcy, is sufficient consideration.]

[In order that forbearance to sue upon a claim may constitute a valid consideration, the

claim need not be one which could be successfully prosecuted, but the claim must not be

brought in bad faith, or be frivolous or vexatious.]