TITLE 1. NATURE OF A CONTRACT [1549. - 1615.]

Title 1 enacted 1872.

§§ 1549–1615 · 52 sections

1. CHAPTER 1. Definition §§ 1549–1550.5 · 3 sections

   • § 1549 A contract is an agreement to do or not to do a certain thing.
   • § 1550 It is essential to the existence of a contract that there should be: 1. Parties capable of contracting; 2. Their consent; 3. A lawful object; and, 4. A…
   • § 1550.5 (a) The Legislature finds and declares all of the following: (1) The Compassionate Use Act of 1996, an initiative measure enacted by the approval of…
2. CHAPTER 2. Parties §§ 1556–1559 · 4 sections

   • § 1556 All persons are capable of contracting, except minors, persons of unsound mind, and persons deprived of civil rights.
   • § 1557 (a) The capacity of a minor to contract is governed by Division 11 (commencing with Section 6500) of the Family Code. (b) The capacity of a person of unsound…
   • § 1558 It is essential to the validity of a contract, not only that the parties should exist, but that it should be possible to identify them.
   • § 1559 A contract, made expressly for the benefit of a third person, may be enforced by him at any time before the parties thereto rescind it.
3. CHAPTER 3. Consent §§ 1565–1590 · 29 sections

   • § 1565 The consent of the parties to a contract must be: 1. Free; 2. Mutual; and, 3. Communicated by each to the other.
   • § 1566 A consent which is not free is nevertheless not absolutely void, but may be rescinded by the parties, in the manner prescribed by the Chapter on Rescission.
   • § 1567 An apparent consent is not real or free when obtained through: 1. Duress; 2. Menace; 3. Fraud; 4. Undue influence; or, 5. Mistake.
   • § 1568 Consent is deemed to have been obtained through one of the causes mentioned in the last section only when it would not have been given had such cause not…
   • § 1568.5 A representation by a minor that the minor’s parent or legal guardian has consented shall not be considered to be consent for purposes of this chapter.
   • § 1569 Duress consists in any of the following: (a) Unlawful confinement of the person of the party, or of the spouse of such party, or of an ancestor, descendant, or…
   • § 1570 Menace consists in a threat: 1. Of such duress as is specified in Subdivisions 1 and 3 of the last section; 2. Of unlawful and violent injury to the person or…
   • § 1571 Fraud is either actual or constructive.
   • § 1572 Actual fraud, within the meaning of this Chapter, consists in any of the following acts, committed by a party to the contract, or with his connivance, with…
   • § 1573 Constructive fraud consists: 1. In any breach of duty which, without an actually fraudulent intent, gains an advantage to the person in fault, or any one…
   • § 1574 Actual fraud is always a question of fact.
   • § 1575 Undue influence consists: 1. In the use, by one in whom a confidence is reposed by another, or who holds a real or apparent authority over him, of such…
   • § 1576 Mistake may be either of fact or law.
   • § 1577 Mistake of fact is a mistake, not caused by the neglect of a legal duty on the part of the person making the mistake, and consisting in: 1. An unconscious…
   • § 1578 Mistake of law constitutes a mistake, within the meaning of this Article, only when it arises from: 1. A misapprehension of the law by all parties, all…
   • § 1579 Mistake of foreign laws is a mistake of fact.
   • § 1580 Consent is not mutual, unless the parties all agree upon the same thing in the same sense. But in certain cases defined by the Chapter on Interpretation, they…
   • § 1581 Consent can be communicated with effect, only by some act or omission of the party contracting, by which he intends to communicate it, or which necessarily…
   • § 1582 If a proposal prescribes any conditions concerning the communication of its acceptance, the proposer is not bound unless they are conformed to; but in other…
   • § 1583 Consent is deemed to be fully communicated between the parties as soon as the party accepting a proposal has put his acceptance in the course of transmission…
   • § 1584 Performance of the conditions of a proposal, or the acceptance of the consideration offered with a proposal, is an acceptance of the proposal.
   • § 1584.5 No person, firm, partnership, association, or corporation, or agent or employee thereof, shall, in any manner, or by any means, offer for sale goods, wares,…
   • § 1584.6 If a person is a member of an organization which makes retail sales of any goods, wares, or merchandise to its members, and the person notifies the…
   • § 1585 An acceptance must be absolute and unqualified, or must include in itself an acceptance of that character which the proposer can separate from the rest, and…
   • § 1586 A proposal may be revoked at any time before its acceptance is communicated to the proposer, but not afterwards.
   • § 1587 A proposal is revoked by any of the following: (a) By the communication of notice of revocation by the proposer to the other party, in the manner prescribed by…
   • § 1588 A contract which is voidable solely for want of due consent, may be ratified by a subsequent consent.
   • § 1589 A voluntary acceptance of the benefit of a transaction is equivalent to a consent to all the obligations arising from it, so far as the facts are known, or…
   • § 1590 Where either party to a contemplated marriage in this State makes a gift of money or property to the other on the basis or assumption that the marriage will…
4. CHAPTER 4. Object of a Contract §§ 1595–1599 · 5 sections

   • § 1595 The object of a contract is the thing which it is agreed, on the part of the party receiving the consideration, to do or not to do.
   • § 1596 The object of a contract must be lawful when the contract is made, and possible and ascertainable by the time the contract is to be performed.
   • § 1597 Everything is deemed possible except that which is impossible in the nature of things.
   • § 1598 Where a contract has but a single object, and such object is unlawful, whether in whole or in part, or wholly impossible of performance, or so vaguely…
   • § 1599 Where a contract has several distinct objects, of which one at least is lawful, and one at least is unlawful, in whole or in part, the contract is void as to…
5. CHAPTER 5. Consideration §§ 1605–1615 · 11 sections

   • § 1605 Any benefit conferred, or agreed to be conferred, upon the promisor, by any other person, to which the promisor is not lawfully entitled, or any prejudice…
   • § 1606 An existing legal obligation resting upon the promisor, or a moral obligation originating in some benefit conferred upon the promisor, or prejudice suffered by…
   • § 1607 The consideration of a contract must be lawful within the meaning of Section 1667.
   • § 1608 If any part of a single consideration for one or more objects, or of several considerations for a single object, is unlawful, the entire contract is void.
   • § 1609 A consideration may be executed or executory, in whole or in part. In so far as it is executory it is subject to the provisions of Chapter IV of this Title.
   • § 1610 When a consideration is executory, it is not indispensable that the contract should specify its amount or the means of ascertaining it. It may be left to the…
   • § 1611 When a contract does not determine the amount of the consideration, nor the method by which it is to be ascertained, or when it leaves the amount thereof to…
   • § 1612 Where a contract provides an exclusive method by which its consideration is to be ascertained, which method is on its face impossible of execution, the entire…
   • § 1613 Where a contract provides an exclusive method by which its consideration is to be ascertained, which method appears possible on its face, but in fact is, or…
   • § 1614 A written instrument is presumptive evidence of a consideration.
   • § 1615 The burden of showing a want of consideration sufficient to support an instrument lies with the party seeking to invalidate or avoid it.