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Contract Case 01

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12 views

Contract Case 01

Uploaded by

ninjaiam40
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Case 011

Balfour v. Balfour

Citation: 2 K.B. 571 (Court of Appeal 1919)

Appellant: Mr. Balfour

Respondent: Mrs. Balfour

Year: 1919

Court: Court of Appeal of England and Wales

Judges: Atkin, Warrington, and Duke LJJ

Country: United Kingdom

Area of law: Enforcement of promises, Family arrangements

Question of Fact: Are offers between husband and wife legally binding?

Brief Fact Summary: A husband promised to pay his wife a £30 per
month allowance. The wife sued her husband to enforce the promise.

Synopsis of Rule of Law: Agreements between husband and wife to


provide monies are generally not contracts because generally the “parties
d[o] not intend that they should be attended by legal consequences.”

Facts: The Plaintiff and the Defendant were a married couple. The
Defendant husband and the Plaintiff wife lived in Ceylon where the
Defendant worked. In 1915, while the Defendant was on leave, the couple
returned to England. When it was time to return to Ceylon, the Plaintiff
was advised not to return because of her health. Prior to the Defendant
returning, he promised to send the Plaintiff £30 per month as support.
The parties’ relationship deteriorated and the parties began living apart.
The Plaintiff brings suit to enforce the Defendant’s promise to pay her £30
per month. The lower court found the parties’ agreement constituted a
contract.

Issue: Does the husbands promise to pay £30 per month constitute a
valid contract which can be sued upon?

Held: The court first recognized that certain forms of agreements do not
reach the status of a contract. An agreement between a husband and
wife is often times such a form of agreement. In such agreements, one
party is give a certain sum of money on a daily, weekly, monthly, etc..
basis. This agreement is sometimes termed an allowance. However,
these agreements are not contracts because the “parties did not intend
that they should be attended by legal consequences.” One reason the
court is hesitant to treat these agreements as contracts, is that there
would not be enough courts to handle the volume of cases. Thus, here,
the husband’s promise did not rise to the level of a contract.

Discussion: The court makes an interesting argument in not enforcing


these types of promises. The court argues that if these promises are
treated as contracts the flood gates will open.

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