Contract; formation; insufficiency of past consideration.
Facts: While on a voyage in the Baltic, two sailors deserted from their ship. The captain made a promise to the remaining crew that they would share the deserters' pay if they worked extra hard to get the ship safely back home. When the ship got back to England, the ship-owner refused to honour the captain's promise. The crew wished to enforce the promise, saying there was an enforceable contract for the extra pay.
Issue: Had the crew given consideration for the captain's promise, so as to create a binding contract?
Decision: The crew had given nothing of value in exchange for the captain's promise. Accordingly, no binding contract for extra pay was created.
Reason: When they had originally signed on for the voyage, the crew had made a promise to do whatever was necessary in case of any emergencies to bring the ship home safely. The desertion of two crew members was an emergency and the crew was therefore already bound to do the extra work that was needed. When the captain promised extra pay, the crew promised nothing in return beyond what they were already legally bound to do.
Note: The result in this case may seem hard on the sailors, but the decision is clearly correct based on a strict application of the established requirements of consideration.