Saturday, September 6, 2008

Hamer v. Sidway

Hamer v. Sidway
New York Court of Appeals
124 N.Y. 538, 27 N.E. 256 (1891)

Facts: A boy's uncle said that if refrained from certain vices until his 21st birthday, the uncle would give him $5k. Upon the boy's 21st birthday, the uncle said that he would hold it with interest for the boy until some unspecified time; he then died. The boy brought the suit against his uncle's estate.

Procedure: New York trial court found for the estate; special term of the trial court found for the boy; estate appealed.

Issue: Was the giving up of a legal right which may never the less benefited the one who gave it up a consideration?

Holding: Yes.

Reasoning: Giving up a legal right is a consideration, no matter if the act of giving it up confers some "benefit."

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

My friend just got into law school and the first thing she learned was about Hamer v. Sidway. Nice post!