contr. An engagement by which the promisor contracts towards another to perform or do something to the advantage of the latter. 2. When a promise is reduced to the form of a written agreement under seal, it is called a covenant. 3. In order to be binding on the promisor, the promise must be made upon a sufficient consideration when made without consideration, however, it may be binding in foro conscientice, it is not obligatory in law, being nudtim pactum. 4. When a promise is made, all that is said at the time, in relation to it, must be considered; if, therefore, a man promise to pay all he owes, accompanied by a denial that he owes anything, no action will lie to enforce such a promise. 15 Wend. 187. 5. And when the promise is conditional, the condition must be performed before it becomes of binding force.
Law Dictionary – Alternative Legal Definition
A declaration, verbal or written, made by one person to another for a good or valuable consideration in the nature of a covenant by which the promisor binds himself to do or forbear some act, and gives to the promisee a legal right to demand and enforce a fulfillment. “Promise” is to be distinguished, on the one hand, from a mere declaration of intention involving no engagement or assurance as to the future; and, on the other, from “agreement,” which is an obligation arising upon reciprocal promises, or upon a promise founded on a consideration. Abbott.”Fictitious promises,” sometimes called “implied promises,” or “promises implied in law,” occur in the case of those contracts which were Invented to enable persons in certain cases to take advantage of the old rules of pleading peculiar to contracts, and which are not now of practical Importance. Sweet. Mutual promises. Promises simultaneously made by and between two parties; each being the consideration for the other. Naked promise. One given without any consideration, equivalent, or reciprocal obligation, and for that reason not enforceable at law. See Arend v. Smith, 151 N. Y. 502, 45 N. E. 872. New promise. An undertaking or promise, based upon and having relation to a former promise which, for some reason, can no longer be enforced, whereby the promisor recognizes and revives such former promise and engages to fulfill it. Parol promise. A simple contract; a verbal promise. 2 Steph. Comm. 109. Promise of marriage. A contract mutually entered into by a man and a woman that they will marry each other.