Contract law and statute law

Eclipsed by Orthodoxy: The Vanishing Point of Consideration and the Forgotten Ingenuity of the Indian Contract Act 1872

“…Accordingly, judges in the nineteenth century embarked upon 'subtle attempts to modify consideration'. 35 Judges continued to formally invoke the familiar formula of benefit and detriment whilst marginalizing the doctrine by 'ingenious (and ingenuous) interpretation'. 36 Although the outward appearance of consideration remained the same, the element of exchange began to be worn away.…”

“…Judges started to find or 'invent' consideration even in the absence of a genuine benefit or detriment. 37 In the mid-nineteenth century cases representing the ascent of the will theory such as Bainbridge v Firmstone 38 and Haigh v Brooks, 39 the courts discovered consideration 'when none was easily to be found' on the terms of the traditional unalloyed doctrine. 40 The trick here appeared to have been that of reading benefit and detriment so expansively as to stretch the traditional doctrine to its 'breaking point'.…”