First Principles of Business Law

Quiz: Making a contract 

Question 12

 

 

 

A publishes a notice in a local newspaper, offering to pay a reward of $1000 to anyone who finds and returns his lost wallet.  The advertisement says that the $1000 has been deposited with A’s lawyer.  B reads the advertisement.  The next day B finds the wallet and returns it to A.   In the light of these facts, which one of the following statements is correct? 

 

(a)  The acts of finding and returning the wallet cannot be counted as ‘consideration’ for A’s promise of a reward because B has already completed these acts before any agreement is made.

(b)  Although finding and returning the wallet to A are acts already completed before any agreement to pay a reward is made, these acts would nevertheless be treated as valid ‘consideration’ because B knew of the promised reward when he performed the acts.

(c)   In exceptional cases like this, where a reward is offered in return for the completion of a specified act, no consideration is required to make the payment of the reward enforceable.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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