Contract law coursework - Consideration Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Contract law coursework - Consideration - Essay Example The fact that past consideration cannot constitute valid consideration was depicted in Eastwood v Kenyon2. In this case the guardian of a young girl obtained a loan in order to defray the cost of her education. After the completion of her education this girl entered holy wedlock. Her husband agreed to repay the loan. The court opined that the guardian of the girl was not entitled to enforce the promise because of the fact that the loan was availed by him to educate the girl constituted past consideration which had been completed long before her husband had made the promise to repay this loan. However, in Pau On v. Lau Yiu Long past consideration was deemed to be good consideration. In this case the court decided that for a new contract, an advantage that was bestowed or a disadvantage that had been undergone in the past could be deemed to be valuable consideration if payment was forthcoming. Further, the court opined that commercial pressure cannot be considered to be coercion if it is a reasonable business practice3. In all such exceptional cases the original act should have been conducted by the promisee at the behest of the promisor; an unambiguous perception should exist between the parties that remuneration would be made available for performing the contract and the promisee should have agreed to these terms, prior to receiving the consideration, which must be enforceable as a legally binding contract. In the month of February road repair work commenced in front of Tommy’s establishment. This made access to Tommy’s establishment difficult and resulted in a drastic reduction of business. The Arcadia Company consented to reduce the rent, for a period of three months, to  £30 per week. The road repair work was over at the end of three months and normalcy was restored. However, due to the road repair work a lot of dust had accumulated and Tommy was compelled to engage