Editing Mills v. Wyman

{{Infobox Case Brief
|court=Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
|citation=20 Mass. (3 Pick.) 207
|date=October 1, 1825
|subject=Contracts
|facts=*Mr. Wyman = inhabitant of Massachusetts with a son who was 25 years old = defendant
*Wyman = son who became ill while sailing back to Hartford, Connecticut
*Mr. Mills = a stranger who decided to care for the ailing Wyman = "Mills" = plaintiff
*Mills took care of the Wyman’s son. The son was 25 years old, and no longer officially apart of the defendant’s family, because he had moved out and was of age and on his own. He had returned from a sea voyage, and became very ill.
*The younger & sick Wyman died.
*The Wyman parents then wrote a note to the plaintiff, promising to pay them back for their expenses in taking care of their son.
*Wyman never paid Mills.
|procedural_history=Trial court directed to non-suit, to which the plaintiff filed exceptions.

Mills lost for lack of consideration supporting Wyman's promise to pay Mills.
|issues=Was Wyman's promise to reimburse Mills for the cost of caring for Levi Wyman (the deceased son) enforceable?


Whether legally binding consideration exists when a promise is made with a moral intent, but no other actual consideration exists.
|holding=Chief Justice Parker: A promise based on moral obligation, but lacking legal consideration or a pre-existing legal duty, is not enforceable.
|reasons=The general position that moral obligation is a sufficient consideration for an express promise, is to be limited in its application, to cases where at some time or other a good or valuable consideration has existed.
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