“Legal duty plus additional benefit can constitute valid consideration for contract formation.”
The Court of Appeal held in favour of the mother. The father was bound to pay maintenance as the mother had provided valid consideration.
An unmarried father promised to pay £1 weekly maintenance to the mother for their child, provided she kept the child well and happy. The mother had a statutory duty under the National Assistance Act 1948 to maintain the child.
Whether the mother's promise to keep the child well and happy could constitute consideration when she already had a legal duty to maintain the child.
The court found that keeping the child 'well and happy' went beyond the statutory duty to maintain. Denning LJ held that performing a legal duty could constitute consideration if it benefits the promisor. Morris and Parker LJJ focused on the additional element of keeping the child happy as going beyond mere maintenance.
This case liberalised the doctrine of consideration by showing that legal duties plus additional benefits can constitute consideration. It paved the way for the more flexible approach to consideration seen in later cases like Williams v Roffey Bros.
Performing a legal duty can constitute valid consideration if accompanied by additional benefits or if it provides practical benefit to the promisor.
The Court of Appeal held that the mother's promise to keep the child well and happy constituted valid consideration, making the father's promise to pay maintenance enforceable.
It liberalised the doctrine of consideration by showing that legal duties can support contracts when combined with additional elements, influencing later developments in consideration law.
Lord Denning suggested that performing any legal duty could be consideration if it provides practical benefit to the promisor, a view that was later influential in Williams v Roffey Bros.
OSCOLA Citation
Ward v Byham [1956] 1 WLR 496 (CA)
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[2026] UKSC 1
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