101 Ga. 810 | Ga. | 1897
The substance of the contract upon which Morrow relied, and for the breach of which this action for damages was instituted, was, that he had made arrangements with the Central Railroad Company, for as long as he desired, to receive and carry all the milk and butter which he would offer for shipment at and from a given point to Atlanta and return the vessels to the receiving point, at a given rate per thirty gallons; that while the railroad was carrying out this arrangement satisfactorily to him, by some arrangement between it and the Southern Express Company the latter took charge of receiving and carrying the shipments on the same terms and conditions as the railroad company had undertaken to do, except that a slightly increased rate of freight on such shipments was exacted ; that in other respects, the express company undertook and assumed to carry out the terms of the contract between Morrow and the railroad, and did carry out the terms of the contract for a number of years and until November, 1882, when it.declined to receive further shipments. The action was dismissed on general demurrer; and we are now called upon to determine whether the petition set out a cause of action.
If the contract was valid and binding, an action would lie for a breach thereof. If, on the other hand, the contract was not valid and binding, there can be no recovery. It is axiomatic in the law of contracts that there must be a consideration moving the parties thereto. The law will enforce no contract which is without consideration. An executory contract, without consideration, is nudum pactum, and of no binding force. Civil Code, §§3656, 3637. Among the considerations recognized by law as sufficient to support a contract is that of mutual promises, or, as it is sometimes termed, a promise for a promise. By section 3661 of our Civil Code it is declared that a promise of another is a good consideration for a promise. A
Judgment affirmed.