ABSTRACT
The approach taken by the courts has been that the consideration for a promise must have some value in the eyes of the law. This might be taken to mean that in order to amount to a good consideration, what is given must have some economic value. Thus, it has been held that natural love and affection cannot constitute a good consideration.31 The justification for this approach seems to be that the provision of natural love and affection may be merely the motive for the making of a promise and that consideration differs from motive.32 Thus, purely intangible returns, such as an undertaking to refrain from complaining about a proposed distribution of property, have been held not to amount to a good consideration for a promise to discharge a debtor from responsibility for his debt.33 Likewise, it has been observed that to promise to compromise a claim which is known to be unenforceable involves neither benefit to the person who agrees not to pursue his claim nor detriment to the other party with the result that there is no consideration.34
