So the question is, should this case get dismissed from court? Think about that. Do the analysis.

In theory, I think you know everything you need to know about consideration. We've defined it meticulously. We've given you a four step process to apply. We've illustrated in situations that were mundane, all the way out to situations that were, I guess you might agree, absurd and confusing. So if you're confused, that's OK, but what you shouldn't be confused about is the process that you use to deal with these difficult questions.

Remember, the nature of law is that it's black and it's white, but then it's gray. And a lot of the interesting questions are in the gray. But I don't want to leave you with just the tools. Let's look at some situations that have already been decided by courts so that, even if you don't get everything we've just talked about, you will still have some guidelines that you can use in going through this stuff.

So let's go through a series of situations that I think have already been decided and that are fairly common. Let's take the first one here. Brian, I will promise to deliver to you 10 bushels of McIntosh Red apples. 10 bushels of apples, right here, one week from today, if you will deliver to me five bushels of my McIntosh Red apples, right here, in the same space. We agree, [? you offer ?] acceptance. Is that consideration?

No.

No? Why not?

Because you're not getting some type of benefit out of it.

Well, what's really going on-- you're right-- is that I'm giving you 10 bushels, you're giving me five bushels. , In essence the net effect is that I'm making a promise to deliver five bushels of apples to you next week. And if I had asked it to you just like that, you'd say, oh, it's a gift. And as you well know, a promise to make a gift in the future is generally not enforceable within our system of law-- more about that later-- OK?

So you're right. So a large quantity of a commodity in exchange for a smaller quantity of the same commodity is not going to be a consideration if they're delivered at the same time and at the same place. But let's say, instead, I will give you five bushels of apples next week if you will give me 10 bushels of the same kind of apples a year from then. Consideration now?

Yes.

Sure. It's the interest value of apples, OK? No problem. You see it. How about if I agree, next week, to give you five bushels of apples if you promise to give me 10 bushels of oranges?

Yes.

Yes? Yes, why? You make a deal?

Yes.

Yes? What do I mean, yes? What's the question?

Whether it's consideration.

Whether it's consideration. Yeah. Now you got it. There's consideration. Why? Because it's apples and oranges. You guys have all taken economics. This is apples [? as ?] expressed in oranges, oranges express an apples. It's got the relative value of the price of apples as expressed in oranges. So they would be considerations. If we change the commodity, we've got consideration.

OK. Let's see here. Quintin, I'll give you 10 bushels of apples next week here if you will deliver to me five bushels of apples next week in Mogadishu.

Sounds like consideration.

Sure. The market is different for apples in Mogadishu than it is here. I guess this is apple arbitrage. I don't know. So if we change the time, we change the place, or we change the commodity, you've got consideration. Just an application of what we've learned. All right. No big deal. All right. Let's go on then and try a different situation.

Quintin, let's say that you owe me $10,000. That $10,000 was due the beginning of this month-- the beginning of this month. So it's due and owing. No question you owe me the money, but also no question you haven't paid me, OK? Bit of a deadbeat. He hasn't paid me, so I'm kind of waiting around. I really need this money. I come to you, and I say, Quintin, it's like the middle of the month already, and I don't have my money. What gives?

And Quintin says, well, I'm waiting for my check. I'm waiting for some things I'll get it for you soon. And then I get very upset, and I say, Quintin, look, I didn't want to get into this, but it turns out that I made a little bet on that very important baseball game that is just concluded here. And I lost, and I'm embarrassed to say that I'm into my bookie for six large. That's the way I talk, six large.

[QUIET LAUGHTER]

So I got to get the $6,000. Because if I don't get the $6,000, I'm going to wind up at the bottom of the Potomac with cement slippers. So I need this money. So Quintin says, tell you what I'll do. Maybe I can get you the money by the end of the day, $6,000, if you will promise not to sue me for the other four. In other words, if you take this as a full discharge of the $10,000 debt.

[HEAVY SIGH] So I think about that, and I say, OK. It's a deal. Offered acceptance, we make a deal right there. So you give me the $6,000, I pay off the bookie, but then I sue you for the other $4,000. And Quintin makes a motion in the court seeking to have that case dismissed. So the question is, should this case get dismissed from court? Think about that. Do the analysis.