ABSTRACT
WE saw in the last lecture how difficult societies foundit to rise to the concept of an agreement or contract.All rights and duties derive from a state that has come into being of things or of persons; but in the contract proper, it is a state simply conceived and not yet in being that lies at the root of the obligation. Nothing has been acquired or given except a declaration of will. How is it possible for such a declaration to bind the will from which it springs? Should we say that in the contract there are two wills concerned and that they bind each other mutually in some way; that they have become bound up together in some fashion and that this association does not leave them wholly free? But how can the promise made by the other contracting party to fulfil certain terms of performance-if on my part I fulfil certain other terms of performance-compel me to honour my promise and vice versa? It is not because the other has pledged himself towards me that my undertaking towards him is binding in greater or lesser degree. The one undertaking is not of a different nature from the other; and if neither has in itself the moral authority to compel the will, it will not be got by their agreeing. Moreover, in order that there shall be a contract, there is no need for an undertaking of reciprocal performance. There may also be unilateral contracts. For instance, deeds of gift and contracts under guarantee do not involve any exchange. If, in a case of this kind, I declare that I will give a certain sum or some object to a certain given person, I am bound to carry out my promise although I have received nothing in exchange. Therefore in this case it is solely the declaration of my will, without any reciprocal declaration, that binds me. How does it come to have this particular force?
