Unilateral gratuitous obligations


Unilateral gratuitous obligations are undertaken voluntarily and are also known as unilateral voluntary obligations or gratuitous promises. If one person promises in definite terms to do something to benefit or favour another, he may be under a legal obligation to keep his promise.
Example: promise to donate a sum of money to a charity.
Not a major feature of commercial dealings, but they do sometimes arise in a business context. Examples:
In England, gratuitous obligations are not generally regarded as being enforceable if verbal or executed under hand. This is because, in English law, there is a doctrine of consideration which requires that both parties must be under an obligation to give something of value, before either will be legally bound to an obligation. Gratuitous obligations will only be enforced by the courts if they are constituted by deed.