Consideration is a concept of English common law and is a necessity for simple contracts but not for special contracts (contracts by deed ). The concept has been adopted by other common law jurisdictions.
92-468: The court in Currie v Misa declared consideration to be a "Right, Interest, Profit, Benefit, or Forbearance, Detriment, Loss, Responsibility". Thus, consideration is a promise of something of value given by a promissor in exchange for something of value given by a promisee; and typically the thing of value is goods, money, or an act. Forbearance to act, such as an adult promising to refrain from smoking,
184-568: A drowning child counts as a harmful act, as does failing to pay taxes , or failing to appear as a witness in court. All such harmful omissions may be regulated, according to Mill. By contrast, it does not count as harming someone if—without force or fraud—the affected individual consents to assume the risk: thus one may permissibly offer unsafe employment to others, provided there is no deception involved. He does, however, recognise one limit to consent: society should not permit people to sell themselves into slavery . The question of what counts as
276-652: A nonconformist who refused to subscribe to the Thirty-Nine Articles of the Church of England , Mill was not eligible to study at the University of Oxford or the University of Cambridge . Instead he followed his father to work for the East India Company , and attended University College, London , to hear the lectures of John Austin , the first Professor of Jurisprudence . He was elected
368-569: A Connected View of the Principles of Evidence, and the Methods of Scientific Investigation ). In " Mill's Methods " (of induction), as in Herschel's, laws were discovered through observation and induction, and required empirical verification. Matilal remarks that Dignāga analysis is much like John Stuart Mill's Joint Method of Agreement and Difference, which is inductive. He suggested that it
460-592: A barbarous people as a violation of the law of nations, only shows that he who so speaks has never considered the subject. For Mill India was " a burden " for England and British colonialism "a blessing of unspeakable magnitude to the population" of India. He also stated his support for settler colonialism . Mill expressed general support for Company rule in India , but expressed reservations on specific Company policies in India which he disagreed with. He also supported colonialism in other places, such as Australia. Mill
552-634: A basis for contracts. However, any change to the doctrine of consideration in the jurisdictions in which it exists would need to implemented by legislation. Currie v Misa Too Many Requests If you report this error to the Wikimedia System Administrators, please include the details below. Request from 172.68.168.133 via cp1102 cp1102, Varnish XID 548250347 Upstream caches: cp1102 int Error: 429, Too Many Requests at Thu, 28 Nov 2024 05:46:58 GMT John Stuart Mill John Stuart Mill (20 May 1806 – 7 May 1873)
644-408: A basis when claiming damages. An exception to this rule is where there is a duty owed to a third party. An act done before the giving of a promise to make a payment or to confer some other benefit can sometimes be consideration for the promise. For this to hold, three conditions must be satisfied (Pao On v Lau Yiu Long [1980]): Generally, conditional consideration is valid consideration. Suppose A
736-779: A civilised community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others. His own good, either physical or moral, is not a sufficient warrant." One way to read Mill's Principle of Liberty as a principle of public reason is to see it excluding certain kinds of reasons from being taken into account in legislation, or in guiding the moral coercion of public opinion. (Rawls, Lectures on the History of Political Philosophy, p. 291) These reasons include those founded in other persons good; reasons of excellence and ideals of human perfection; reasons of dislike or disgust, or of preference. Mill states that "harms" which may be prevented include acts of omission as well as acts of commission. Thus, failing to rescue
828-419: A contract use technicalities to satisfy requirements while in actual fact circumventing them in practice. Typically, this is often described in the form of "peppercorn" consideration, i.e. consideration that is trivial but still satisfies the requirements of law, although texts and commentators making such assertions do have a credible basis for doing so. The doctrine of consideration is expressly rejected by
920-619: A contract. Under English law: Meanwhile, the Indian Contract Act, 1872 which continues in force in Pakistan, Bangladesh, and India (the most populous common law jurisdiction) provides that valid consideration exists "when at the desire of the promisor, the promisee or any other person has done or abstained from doing, or does or abstains from doing, or promises to do or abstain from doing something" or, in other words, when each party receives something in return for entering into
1012-716: A contractual obligation. An agreement must be supported by a lawful consideration on both sides. Under the act, valid consideration must satisfy the following criteria: Additionally, under the Indian Contract Act 1872, any consideration is invalid if it is: The most noticeable distinction between the English and Indian criteria for consideration is that English law prohibits past consideration while Indian law does not. Systems based on Roman law (including Germany and Scotland) do not require consideration, and some commentators consider it unnecessary and have suggested that
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#17327728180401104-414: A creditor has a credit against a debtor for $ 10,000, and offers to settle it for $ 5,000, it is still binding, if accepted, even though the debtor had a legal duty to repay the entire $ 10,000. Pre-existing duties relating to at-will employment depend largely on state law. Generally, at-will employment allows the employer to terminate the employee for good or even no reason (as long as the reason, if any,
1196-430: A deed is a reflection of the nature of contractual considerations. If there is no element of consideration found, there is thus no contract formed. However, even if a court decides there is no contract, there might be a possible recovery under the doctrines of quantum meruit (sometimes referred to as a quasi-contract ) or promissory estoppel . There are a number of common issues as to whether consideration exists in
1288-454: A few days in the house of the renowned economist Jean-Baptiste Say , a friend of Mill's father. There he met many leaders of the Liberal party, as well as other notable Parisians, including Henri Saint-Simon . Mill went through months of sadness and contemplated suicide at twenty years of age. According to the opening paragraphs of Chapter V of his autobiography, he had asked himself whether
1380-435: A follower of Bentham and an adherent of associationism , had as his explicit aim to create a genius intellect that would carry on the cause of utilitarianism and its implementation after he and Bentham had died. Mill was a notably precocious child. He describes his education in his autobiography. At the age of three he was taught Greek . By the age of eight, he had read Aesop's Fables , Xenophon 's Anabasis , and
1472-534: A foreign honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1856. Mill's career as a colonial administrator at the East India Company spanned from when he was 17 years old in 1823 until 1858, when the company's territories in India were directly annexed by the Crown , establishing direct Crown control over India . In 1836, he was promoted to the company's political department, where he
1564-422: A gift. However, in common law systems the concept of culpa in contrahendo , a form of estoppel , is increasingly used to create obligations during pre-contractual negotiations . Estoppel is an equitable doctrine that provides for the creation of legal obligations if a party has given another an assurance and the other has relied on the assurance to his detriment . Generally, courts do not inquire whether
1656-645: A pen-friendship with Auguste Comte , the founder of positivism and sociology, since Mill first contacted Comte in November 1841. Comte's sociologie was more an early philosophy of science than modern sociology is. Comte's positivism motivated Mill to eventually reject Bentham's psychological egoism and what he regarded as Bentham's cold, abstract view of human nature focused on legislation and politics, instead coming to favour Comte's more sociable view of human nature focused on historical facts and directed more towards human individuals in all their complexities. As
1748-436: A right to prevent. Holmes suggested that falsely shouting out "Fire!" in a dark theatre , which evokes panic and provokes injury, would be such a case of speech that creates an illegal danger. But if the situation allows people to reason by themselves and decide to accept it or not, any argument or theology should not be blocked. Here is Mill on the same topic: "No one pretends that actions should be as free as opinions. On
1840-400: A self-regarding action and what actions, whether of omission or commission, constitute harmful actions subject to regulation, continues to exercise interpreters of Mill. He did not consider giving offence to constitute "harm"; an action could not be restricted because it violated the conventions or morals of a given society. Mill believed that "the struggle between Liberty and Authority is
1932-467: A society sufficiently culturally and institutionally advanced to be capable of progressive improvement. If any argument is really wrong or harmful, the public will judge it as wrong or harmful, and then those arguments cannot be sustained and will be excluded. Mill argued that even any arguments which are used in justifying murder or rebellion against the government should not be politically suppressed or socially persecuted . According to him, if rebellion
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#17327728180402024-460: A strong advocate of such social reforms as labour unions and farm cooperatives. In Considerations on Representative Government , he called for various reforms of Parliament and voting, especially proportional representation , the single transferable vote , and the extension of suffrage . In April 1868, he favoured in a Commons debate the retention of capital punishment for such crimes as aggravated murder ; he termed its abolition "an effeminacy in
2116-547: A system of " constitutional checks". However, in Mill's view, limiting the power of government was not enough: Society can and does execute its own mandates: and if it issues wrong mandates instead of right, or any mandates at all in things with which it ought not to meddle, it practises a social tyranny more formidable than many kinds of political oppression, since, though not usually upheld by such extreme penalties, it leaves fewer means of escape, penetrating much more deeply into
2208-485: A textbook to promote the ideas of Ricardian economics ; however, the book lacked popular support. Ricardo, who was a close friend of his father, used to invite the young Mill to his house for a walk to talk about political economy . At the age of fourteen, Mill stayed a year in France with the family of Sir Samuel Bentham , brother of Jeremy Bentham and in the company of George Ensor , then pursuing his polemic against
2300-492: A wholly original insight. During the same period, 1865–68, he was also a Member of Parliament (MP) for City of Westminster . He was sitting for the Liberal Party . During his time as an MP, Mill advocated easing the burdens on Ireland. In 1866, he became the first person in the history of Parliament to call for women to be given the right to vote, vigorously defending this position in subsequent debate. He also became
2392-441: Is enforceable only if one is thereby surrendering a legal right. Consideration may be thought of as the concept of value offered and accepted by people or organisations entering into contracts . Anything of value promised by one party to the other when making a contract can be treated as "consideration": for example, if A contracts to buy a car from B for $ 5,000, A's consideration is the promise of $ 5,000, and B's consideration
2484-456: Is a necessary condition for intellectual and social progress . We can never be sure, he contends, that a silenced opinion does not contain some element of the truth. He also argues that allowing people to air false opinions is productive for two reasons. First, individuals are more likely to abandon erroneous beliefs if they are engaged in an open exchange of ideas . Second, by forcing other individuals to re-examine and re-affirm their beliefs in
2576-481: Is a critical component for a representative government to have to empower debate over public policy . He also eloquently argued that freedom of expression allows for personal growth and self-realization . He said that freedom of speech was a vital way to develop talents and realise a person's potential and creativity. He repeatedly said that eccentricity was preferable to uniformity and stagnation. The belief that freedom of speech would advance society presupposed
2668-407: Is a movie script writer and B runs a movie production company. A says to B, "buy my script." B says "How about this – I will pay you $ 5,000 so that you do not let anyone else produce your movie until one year from now. If I do produce your movie in that year, then I will give you another $ 50,000, and no one else can produce it. If I do not produce your movie in that year, then you're free to go." If
2760-405: Is formed. However, this is a minority position. A party that already has a legal duty to provide money, an object, a service, or a forbearance, does not provide consideration when promising merely to uphold that duty. That legal duty can arise from law, or obligation under a previous contract. The prime example of this sub-issue is where an uncle gives his thirteen-year-old nephew (a resident of
2852-556: Is most fatal. Mill outlines the benefits of "searching for and discovering the truth" as a way to further knowledge. He argued that even if an opinion is false, the truth can be better understood by refuting the error. And as most opinions are neither completely true nor completely false, he points out that allowing free expression allows the airing of competing views as a way to preserve partial truth in various opinions. Worried about minority views being suppressed, he argued in support of freedom of speech on political grounds, stating that it
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2944-545: Is no guarantee that A would win against B if it went to court, A may agree to drop the case if B pays the $ 5,000 compensatory damages. This is sufficient consideration, since B's consideration is a guaranteed recovery, and A's consideration is that B only has to pay $ 5,000, instead of $ 8,000. The primary criticism of the doctrine of consideration is that, in its present form, it is purely a formality that merely serves to complicate commerce and create legal uncertainty by opening up otherwise simple contracts to scrutiny as to whether
3036-446: Is not explicitly illegal ), and allows the employee to resign for any reason. There are no duties of continued employment in the future. Therefore, when an employee demands a raise, there is no issue with consideration because the employee has no legal duty to continue working. Similarly, when an employer demands a pay-cut, there is also no contractual issue with consideration, because the employer has no legal duty to continue employing
3128-418: Is really necessary, people should rebel; if murder is truly proper, it should be allowed. However, the way to express those arguments should be a public speech or writing, not in a way that causes actual harm to others. Such is the harm principle : "That the only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others." At
3220-631: Is still consideration on both sides. A's consideration is $ 200, and B's consideration is the mansion, car, and jet. Courts in the United States generally leave parties to their own contracts and do not intervene. The old English rule of consideration questioned whether a party gave the value of a peppercorn to the other party. As a result, contracts in the United States have sometimes have had one party pass nominal amounts of consideration, typically citing $ 1. Thus, licensing contracts that do not involve any money at all often cite as consideration, "for
3312-510: Is the promise of the car. Additionally, if A signs a contract with B such that A will paint B's house for $ 500, A's consideration is the service of painting B's house, and B's consideration is $ 500 paid to A. Further if A signs a contract with B such that A will not repaint his own house in any other colour than white, and B will pay A $ 500 per year to keep this deal up, there is also a consideration. Although A did not promise to affirmatively do anything, A did promise not to do something that he
3404-441: Is the undertaking to decide that question for others , without allowing them to hear what can be said on the contrary side. And I denounce and reprobate this pretension not the less, if put forth on the side of my most solemn convictions. However positive any one's persuasion may be, not only of the falsity, but of the pernicious consequences–not only of the pernicious consequences, but (to adopt expressions which I altogether condemn)
3496-498: Is thought by leading scholars to be the result of the combining by 19th-century judges of two distinct threads: first the consideration requirement was at the heart of the action of assumpsit , which had grown up in medieval times and remained the normal action for breach of a simple contract in England and Wales until 1884 when the old forms of action were abolished; secondly, the notion of agreement between two or more parties as being
3588-437: The East India Company from 1823 to 1858, argued in support of what he called a "benevolent despotism" with regard to the administration of overseas colonies. Mill argued: To suppose that the same international customs, and the same rules of international morality, can obtain between one civilized nation and another, and between civilized nations and barbarians, is a grave error. ... To characterize any conduct whatever towards
3680-619: The UNIDROIT Principles of International Commercial Contracts on the grounds that it yields uncertainty and unnecessary litigation, thereby hindering international trade. Similarly, the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods similarly does not require consideration for a contract to be valid, thereby excluding the doctrine with regard to contracts covered by
3772-459: The University of St Andrews . At his inaugural address, delivered to the University on 1 February 1867, he made the now-famous (but often wrongly attributed) remark that "Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing." That Mill included that sentence in the address is a matter of historical record, but it by no means follows that it expressed
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3864-626: The Inductive Sciences, from the Earliest to the Present Time , followed in 1840 by The Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences, Founded Upon their History , presenting induction as the mind superimposing concepts on facts. Laws were self-evident truths, which could be known without need for empirical verification. Mill countered this in 1843 in A System of Logic (fully titled A System of Logic, Ratiocinative and Inductive, Being
3956-551: The UK press. This prompted demands for better basic legal protection of press freedom. A new British Bill of Rights could include a US-type constitutional ban on governmental infringement of press freedom and block other official attempts to control freedom of opinion and expression. Mill was a member of Edward Gibbon Wakefield 's Colonization Society. In his Principles of Political Economy (1848) he praised Wakefield for his "important writings on colonization". Mill, an employee of
4048-411: The beginning of the 20th century, Associate justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. made the standard of "clear and present danger" based on Mill's idea. In the majority opinion, Holmes writes: The question in every case is whether the words used are used in such circumstances and are of such a nature as to create a clear and present danger that they will bring about the substantive evils that Congress has
4140-411: The car to A, then B cannot take the car back, since, while it may not be a valid contract, it is a valid gift . In common law it is a prerequisite that both parties offer consideration before a contract can be thought of as binding. The doctrine of consideration is irrelevant in many jurisdictions, although contemporary commercial litigant relations have held the relationship between a promise and
4232-489: The cases which are least favourable to me—in which the argument opposing freedom of opinion, both on truth and that of utility , is considered the strongest. Let the opinions impugned be the belief in God and in a future state, or any of the commonly received doctrines of morality. ... But I must be permitted to observe, that it is not the feeling sure of a doctrine (be it what it may) which I call an assumption of infallibility . It
4324-514: The consideration is a performance for which the parties had previously contracted. For example, A agrees to paint B's house for $ 500, but halfway through the job A tells B that he will not finish unless B increases the payment to $ 750. If B agrees, and A then finishes the job, B still only needs to pay A the $ 500 originally agreed to, because A was already contractually obligated to paint the house for that amount. An exception to this rule holds for settlements , such as an accord and satisfaction . If
4416-517: The consideration purportedly tendered satisfies the requirements of the law. While the purpose of the doctrine was ostensibly to protect parties seeking to void oppressive contracts, this is currently accomplished through the use of a sophisticated variety of defences available to the party seeking to void a contract. In practice, the doctrine of consideration has resulted in a phenomenon similar to that of Ḥiyal in Islamic contracts, whereby parties to
4508-436: The contrary, even opinions lose their immunity, when the circumstances in which they are expressed are such as to constitute their expression a positive instigation to some mischievous act. An opinion that corn-dealers are starvers of the poor, or that private property is robbery, ought to be unmolested when simply circulated through the press, but may justly incur punishment when delivered orally to an excited mob assembled before
4600-440: The convention even in common law jurisdictions where it would otherwise apply. Consequently, the continued existence of the doctrine in common law jurisdictions is controversial. Scots lawyer Harvey McGregor 's " Contract Code ", a Law Commission -sponsored proposal to both unite and codify English and Scots Law, proposed the abolition of consideration. Some commentators have suggested that consideration be replaced by estoppel as
4692-400: The creation of a just society, his life's objective, would actually make him happy. His heart answered "no", and unsurprisingly he lost the happiness of striving towards this objective. Eventually, the poetry of William Wordsworth showed him that beauty generates compassion for others and stimulates joy. With renewed vigour, he continued to work towards a just society, but with more relish for
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#17327728180404784-418: The deal between two parties was monetarily fair—merely that each party passed some legal obligation or duty to the other party. The dispositive issue is the presence of consideration, not the adequacy of the consideration. The values between consideration passed by each party to a contract need not be comparable. For instance, if A offers B $ 200 to buy B's mansion, luxury sports car, and private jet, there
4876-496: The details of life, and enslaving the soul itself. Mill's view on liberty , which was influenced by Joseph Priestley and Josiah Warren , is that individuals ought to be free to do as they wished unless they caused harm to others. Individuals are rational enough to make decisions about their well-being. Government should interfere when it is for the protection of society. Mill explained: The sole end for which mankind are warranted, individually or collectively, in interfering with
4968-433: The doctrine of consideration should be abandoned, and estoppel used to replace it as a basis for contracts. However, legislation , rather than judicial development, has been touted as the only way to remove this entrenched common law doctrine. Lord Justice Denning famously stated that "The doctrine of consideration is too firmly fixed to be overthrown by a side-wind". The reason that both exist in common law jurisdictions
5060-412: The essential legal and moral foundation of contract in all legal systems, was promoted by the 18th-century French writer Pothier in his Traite des Obligations , much read (especially after translation into English in 1805) by English judges and jurists. The latter chimed well with the fashionable will theories of the time, especially John Stuart Mill 's influential ideas on free will, and got grafted on to
5152-412: The following offer: "if you do not smoke cigarettes, do not drink alcohol, swear or play cards for money (gamble) before your 21st birthday, then I will pay you $ 5,000". On the nephew's 21st birthday, he asks the uncle to pay up, and this time, in the subsequent lawsuit, the nephew may win. Although the promise of not drinking alcohol and gambling while under the age of 21 was not valuable consideration (it
5244-507: The freedom of the individual in opposition to unlimited state and social control . Mill advocated political and social reforms such as proportional representation, emancipation of women, and the development of labor organizations and farm cooperatives. The Columbia Encyclopedia 5th ed. says of him “at times Mill came close to socialism, a theory repugnant to his predecessors.“ Mill was a proponent of utilitarianism , an ethical theory developed by his predecessor Jeremy Bentham . He contributed to
5336-483: The general mind of the country". (It is said in 1868, when his first term ended, no party would nominate him due to his independent spirit. ) He was elected as a member to the American Philosophical Society in 1867. He was godfather to the philosopher Bertrand Russell . In his views on religion, Mill was an agnostic and a sceptic . Like other philosophers of his time, Mill
5428-489: The house of a corn-dealer, or when handed about among the same mob in the form of a placard" ( On LIberty , chapter 3). Mill's argument is now generally accepted by many democratic countries , and they have laws at least guided by the harm principle. For example, in American law some exceptions limit free speech such as obscenity , defamation , breach of peace , and " fighting words ". In On Liberty , Mill thought it
5520-413: The immorality and impiety of an opinion; yet if, in pursuance of that private judgment, though backed by the public judgment of his country or his contemporaries, he prevents the opinion from being heard in its defence, he assumes infallibility. And so far from the assumption being less objectionable or less dangerous because the opinion is called immoral or impious, this is the case of all others in which it
5612-510: The investigation of scientific methodology , though his knowledge of the topic was based on the writings of others, notably William Whewell , John Herschel , and Auguste Comte , and research carried out for Mill by Alexander Bain . He engaged in written debate with Whewell. A member of the Liberal Party and author of the early feminist work The Subjection of Women , Mill was also the second member of Parliament to call for women's suffrage after Henry Hunt in 1832. John Stuart Mill
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#17327728180405704-516: The journey. He considered this one of the most pivotal shifts in his thinking. In fact, many of the differences between him and his father stemmed from this expanded source of joy. Mill met Thomas Carlyle during one of the latter's visits to London in the early 1830s, and the two quickly became companions and correspondents. Mill offered to print Carlyle's works at his own expense and encouraged Carlyle to write his French Revolution , supplying him with materials in order to do so. In March 1835, while
5796-429: The liberty of action of any of their number, is self-protection. That the only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others. His own good, either physical or moral, is not sufficient warrant. He cannot rightfully be compelled to do or forbear because it will be better for him to do so, because it will make him happier, because, in
5888-464: The manuscript of the completed first volume was in Mill's possession, Mill's housemaid unwittingly used it as tinder, destroying all "except some three or four bits of leaves". Mortified, Mill offered Carlyle £200 (£17,742.16 in 2021) as compensation (Carlyle would only accept £100). Ideological differences would put an end to the friendship during the 1840s, though Carlyle's early influence on Mill would colour his later thought. Mill had been engaged in
5980-453: The most conspicuous feature in the portions of history." For him, liberty in antiquity was a "contest...between subjects, or some classes of subjects, and the government." Mill defined social liberty as protection from "the tyranny of political rulers". He introduced a number of different concepts of the form tyranny can take, referred to as social tyranny, and tyranny of the majority . Social liberty for Mill meant putting limits on
6072-427: The opinion of others, to do so would be wise, or even right. ... The only part of the conduct of anyone, for which he is amenable to society, is that which concerns others. In the part which merely concerns him, his independence is, of right, absolute . Over himself, over his own body and mind, the individual is sovereign . On Liberty involves an impassioned defence of free speech . Mill argues that free discourse
6164-466: The permanent interests of people as progressive beings. (Rawls, Lectures on the History of Political Philosophy, p. 289) Mill states the Principle of Liberty as: "the sole end for which mankind are warranted, individually or collectively, in interfering with the liberty of action of any of their number, is self-protection." "The only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of
6256-588: The political economy of Thomas Malthus . The mountain scenery he saw led to a lifelong taste for mountain landscapes. The lively and friendly way of life of the French also left a deep impression on him. In Montpellier , he attended the winter courses on chemistry , zoology , logic of the Faculté des Sciences , as well as taking a course in higher mathematics. While coming and going from France, he stayed in Paris for
6348-557: The process of debate, these beliefs are kept from declining into mere dogma . It is not enough for Mill that one simply has an unexamined belief that happens to be true; one must understand why the belief in question is the true one. Along those same lines Mill wrote, "unmeasured vituperation, employed on the side of prevailing opinion, really does deter people from expressing contrary opinions, and from listening to those who express them." As an influential advocate of freedom of speech, Mill objected to censorship: I choose, by preference
6440-532: The ruler's power so that he would not be able to use that power to further his own wishes and thus make decisions that could harm society. In other words, people should have the right to have a say in the government's decisions. He said that social liberty was "the nature and limits of the power which can be legitimately exercised by society over the individual." It was attempted in two ways: first, by obtaining recognition of certain immunities (called political liberties or rights ); and second, by establishment of
6532-459: The state of New York) the following offer: "if you do not smoke cigarettes or drink alcohol until your 18th birthday, then I will pay you $ 5,000". On the nephew's 18th birthday, he tells the uncle to pay up, and the uncle does not pay. In the subsequent lawsuit, the uncle wins, because the nephew, by U.S. criminal law, already had a duty to refrain from smoking cigarettes while under 18 and from drinking alcohol while under age 21. The same applies if
6624-442: The subject." (However, Mill immediately added that "A violation of the great principles of morality it may easily be.") Mill viewed places such as India as having once been progressive in their outlook, but had now become stagnant in their development; he opined that this meant these regions had to be ruled via a form of " benevolent despotism ...provided the end is improvement." When the Crown proposed to take direct control over
6716-495: The sum of $ 1 and other good and valuable consideration." However, some courts in the United States may take issue with nominal consideration, or consideration with virtually no value. Some courts have since thought this was a sham. Since contract disputes are typically resolved in state court, some state courts have found that merely providing $ 1 to another is not a sufficiently legal duty, and therefore no legal consideration passes in these kinds of deals, and consequently, no contract
6808-758: The territories of the East India Company , Mill was tasked with defending Company rule and penned Memorandum on the Improvements in the Administration of India during the Last Thirty Years , among other petitions. He was offered a seat on the Council of India , the body created to advise the new Secretary of State for India , but declined, citing disapproval of the new system of administration in India. On 21 April 1851, Mill married Harriet Taylor after 21 years of intimate friendship. Taylor
6900-446: The traditional common law requirement for consideration to ground an action in assumpsit. Civil law systems take the approach that an exchange of promises, or a concurrence of wills alone, rather than an exchange in valuable rights is the correct basis. So if A promises to give B a book and B accepts the offer without giving anything in return, B would have a legal right to the book and A could not change her mind about giving it to B as
6992-465: The two subsequently get into a dispute, the issue of whether a contract exists is answered. B had an option contract—he could decide to produce the script, or not. B's consideration passed was the $ 5,000 down, and the possibility of $ 50,000. A's consideration passed was the exclusive rights to the movie script for at least one year. Suppose B commits a tort against A, causing $ 5,000 in compensatory damages and $ 3,000 in punitive damages . Since there
7084-410: The whole of Herodotus , and was acquainted with Lucian , Diogenes Laërtius , Isocrates and six dialogues of Plato . He had also read a great deal of history in English and had been taught arithmetic , physics and astronomy. At the age of eight, Mill began studying Latin , the works of Euclid , and algebra , and was appointed schoolmaster to the younger children of the family. His main reading
7176-431: The worker. However, certain states require additional consideration other than the prospect of continued employment, to enforce terms demanded later by the employer, in particular, non-competition clauses. Contracts where a legally valueless term is bundled with a term that does have legal value are still generally enforceable. Consider the uncle's situation above. If the same uncle had instead told his 13-year-old nephew
7268-446: Was "chiefly an amanuensis to my wife". He called her mind a "perfect instrument", and said she was "the most eminently qualified of all those known to the author". He cites her influence in his final revision of On Liberty , which was published shortly after her death. Taylor died in 1858 after developing severe lung congestion , after only seven years of marriage to Mill. Between the years 1865 and 1868 Mill served as Lord Rector of
7360-402: Was allowed to do, and so A did pass consideration. A's consideration to B is the forbearance in painting his own house in a colour other than white, and B's consideration to A is $ 500 per year. Conversely, if A signs a contract to buy a car from B for $ 0, B's consideration is still the car, but A is giving no consideration, and so there is no valid contract. However, if B still gives the title to
7452-413: Was already legally prohibited), most states allow smoking by age 18 and swearing is not illegal at any age. Even though smoking is legally restricted until age 18, it is legal for those above 18, and thus the promise to forbear from it entirely has legal value. However, the uncle would still be relieved from the liability if his nephew drank alcohol, even though that consideration is valueless, because it
7544-479: Was an English philosopher, political economist , politician and civil servant. One of the most influential thinkers in the history of liberalism , he contributed widely to social theory , political theory , and political economy. Dubbed "the most influential English-speaking philosopher of the nineteenth century" by the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy , he conceived of liberty as justifying
7636-594: Was born at 13 Rodney Street in Pentonville , then on the edge of the capital and now in central London , the eldest son of Harriet Barrow and the Scottish philosopher , historian, and economist James Mill . John Stuart was educated by his father, with the advice and assistance of Jeremy Bentham and Francis Place . He was given an extremely rigorous upbringing, and was deliberately shielded from association with children his own age other than his siblings. His father,
7728-473: Was buried alongside his wife's. Mill joined the debate over the scientific method which followed on from John Herschel 's 1830 publication of A Preliminary Discourse on the Study of Natural Philosophy , which incorporated inductive reasoning from the known to the unknown, discovering general laws in specific facts and verifying these laws empirically. William Whewell expanded on this in his 1837 History of
7820-758: Was interested in botany. It is believed that approximately 1,000 of his specimens are held by the Museum Requien in Avignon, and Mill's stepdaughter Helen donated specimens to the Kew Herbarium after his death. In the southern hemisphere, there are also specimens at the National Herbarium of Victoria , Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria , Australia. Mill died on 7 May 1873, at the age of 66, of erysipelas in Avignon , France, where his body
7912-625: Was married when they met, and their relationship was close but generally believed to be chaste during the years before her first husband died in 1849. The couple waited two years before marrying in 1851. Upon marriage, he made a declaration to repudiate the rights conferred upon him over her by virtue of the marriage under Victorian law. Accomplished in her own right, Taylor was a significant influence on Mill's work and ideas during both friendship and marriage. His relationship with Taylor reinforced Mill's advocacy of women's rights . He said that in his stand against domestic violence, and for women's rights he
8004-462: Was necessary for him to restate the case for press freedom. He considered that argument already won. Almost no politician or commentator in mid-19th-century Britain wanted a return to Tudor and Stuart-type press censorship. However, Mill warned new forms of censorship could emerge in the future. Indeed, in 2013 the Cameron Tory government considered setting up an independent official regulator of
8096-415: Was paired with something of legal value; therefore, adherence to the entire, collective agreement is necessary. Generally, past consideration is not a valid consideration and has no legal value. Past consideration is consideration that has already flowed from the promisee to the promisor. That is, the promisee's act or forbearance predates the promisor's promise. Past consideration therefore cannot be used as
8188-544: Was published in 1818; immediately thereafter, at about the age of twelve, Mill began a thorough study of the scholastic logic , at the same time reading Aristotle 's logical treatises in the original language. In the following year he was introduced to political economy and studied Adam Smith and David Ricardo with his father, ultimately completing their classical economic view of factors of production . Mill's comptes rendus of his daily economy lessons helped his father in writing Elements of Political Economy in 1821,
8280-434: Was responsible for correspondence pertaining to the company's relations with the princely states , and, in 1856, was finally promoted to the position of Examiner of Indian Correspondence. In On Liberty , A Few Words on Non-Intervention , and other works, he opined that "To characterize any conduct whatever towards a barbarous people as a violation of the law of nations, only shows that he who so speaks has never considered
8372-560: Was still history, but he went through all the commonly taught Latin and Greek authors and by the age of ten could read Plato and Demosthenes with ease. His father also thought that it was important for Mill to study and compose poetry. One of his earliest poetic compositions was a continuation of the Iliad . In his spare time he also enjoyed reading about natural sciences and popular novels, such as Don Quixote and Robinson Crusoe . His father's work, The History of British India ,
8464-546: Was very likely that during his stay in India he came across the tradition of logic, in which scholars started taking interest after 1824, though it is unknown whether it influenced his work. Mill's On Liberty (1859) addresses the nature and limits of the power that can be legitimately exercised by society over the individual . Mill's idea is that only if a democratic society follows the Principle of Liberty can its political and social institutions fulfill their role of shaping national character so that its citizens can realise
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