of another's weakness of mind, or whenever one party takes a grossly oppressive and unfair advantage of another's necessities or distress. Also, consent will not be considered mutual and free, whenever a mistake is made in entering into a contract, where either party, without negligence on his part, acts under an unconscious ignorance or forgetfulness of a fact, past or present, material to the contract, or acts in the belief that a thing material to the contract exists or has existed when in fact the thing does not exist and never did exist. Also, a contract will be set aside whenever all the parties act under a misapprehension of the law, all supposing that they know and understand it; also, because of misapprehension of the law by one party to a contract, of which the other party is aware at the time of contracting, but which he does not rectify.

Civil Code, Sections 1565, 1567, 1569, 1570, 1572, 1575, 1577, 1578.

Section 4.-WHEN CONSENT IS NOT MUTUAL.Consent of the parties is not mutual unless the parties all agree upon the same thing in the same sense.

Civil Code, Section 1580.

Section 5.-PROPOSAL OF CONTRACT, ACCEPTANCE, AND REVOCATION.-One party may propose a thing, but the proposal must be accepted before a contract is created. An acceptance must be absolute and unqualified. If one party makes a proposition, and the other replies with a proposition on his part, there is no contract, because the parties have not mutually agreed upon anything. The proposal may be revoked at any time before it is accepted. It is revoked by giving notice of its withdrawal to the person to whom the proposal was made. It is also revoked, where a certain time was given in which to accept, by the expiration of that time without notice of acceptance; it is also revoked by the failure of the person to whom the proposal is made to do some act which is

required of him as a condition preceding the acceptance; and a proposal is necessarily considered revoked by the death or insanity of the proposer. Any usual and reasonable mode of giving notice of acceptance of a proposal may be adopted, as, by mail, or in person, or by messenger, and it will be sufficient to constitute a contract. But the proposer may prescribe a certain mode in which notice of acceptance must be given, and the proposer will not be bound unless the mode prescribed by him is adopted.

Civil Code, Section 1582, 1583, 1585, 1586, 1587.

Section 6.-OBJECTS OF CONTRACT.-The object of a contract must be lawful when the contract is made, and possible of performance, and certain in its terms. However, the law considers everything possible except that which is impossible in the nature of things, and, therefore, to render a contract invalid for impossibility of performance, it must be apparent from the nature of the thing agreed upon that it will not be possible to perform it. 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 expressed as to be wholly unascertainable, the entire contract is void. But where a contract has several distinct objects, of which one at least is lawful, in whole or in part, the contract is void as to the unlawful object, and valid as to the rest.

Civil Code, Sections 1595, 1596, 1597, 1598, 1599.

Section 7.-CONSIDERATION OF A CONTRACT. -The consideration of a contract need not necessarily be money. Of course, the consideration must be lawful, that is, it must not be contrary to any express provision of law, or against the policy of express law, or contrary to good morals. But the consideration may consist in any benefit conferred or agreed to be conferred upon the promisor by any other person, to which the promisor is not already lawfully entitled, or in any prejudice suffered or agreed to be suffered by the person to whom the promise is made, which

he is not already lawfully bound to suffer. The abandonment of a right, or forbearing to enforce a claim, or any detriment suffered by the promisee, will constitute sufficient consideration for a contract, and be as binding as though the pyament of money were agreed upon.

Civil Code, Sections 1605, 1607, 1667.

Section 8.-WHAT CONTRACTS MAY BE VERBAL. -All contracts may be entered into verbally, except such as are specially required by law to be in writing. If the contract is one which the law does not specially require to be in writing, the verbal agreement of the parties is as good as any other, and as binding as it would be if reduced to writing.

Section 9.-WHAT CONTRACTS MUST BE IN WRITING. The law of California provides that the following contracts are invalid, unless the contract, or some note or memorandum describing its terms, is put into writing and subscribed by the party to be charged, or by his agent: (1) An agreement that by its terms is not to be performed within a year from the making thereof; (2) A special promise to answer for the debt, default, or miscarriage of another; but there is one exception to this provision, where it appears that the promise was such as the law considers an original obligation on the part of the promisor; (3) An agreement made upon consideration of marriage, other than a mutual promise to marry; (4) An agreement for the sale of goods, chattels, or things in action, at a price not less than two hundred dollars, unless the buyer accepts or receives part of such goods and chattels, or the evidences, or some of them, of such things in action, or pay at the time some part of the purchase money; but, when a sale is made at auction, an entry by the auctioneer in his sale book, at the time of the sale, of the kind of property sold, the terms of the sale, the price, and the names of the purchaser and person on whose account

the sale is made, is a sufficient memorandum; (5) An agreement for the leasing for a longer period than one year, or for the sale of real property, or for an interest therein; and such agreement, if made by an agent of the party sought to be charged, is invalid, unless the authority of the agent is in writing, and subscribed by the party sought to be charged; (6) An agreement authorizing or employing an agent or broker to purchase or sell real estate for compensation or commission; (7) An agreement which by its terms is not to be performed during the lifetime of the promisor; (8) Or an agreement to devise or bequeath any property, or to make any provision for any person by will.

Civil Code, Section 1624.

Section 10.-CONTRACTS AGAINST PUBLIC POLICY. There are certain contracts which the law says are against public policy, and therefore invalid. Generally any contract which has for its object the violation of any law of the land would be illegal, without reference to the question of public policy. But the State recognizes the usual and natural distinctions between morality and immorality, that which is inherently right and that which is inherently wrong, and forbids, on the ground of public policy, certain contracts which may not be forbidden by the statutes. Therefore it is said that all contracts in violation of morality are void; that agreements to do acts forbidden by the law of God, or which are manifestly in furtherance of immorality, and tend to contaminate the public mind, can not be enforced in the courts of this State. Some illustrations of this rule are, where lodgings are leased for purposes of prostitution; where a contract is made for the printing or sale of obscene or libelous books; so, also, contracts to prevent competition at an auction sale, contracts in restrainst of trade, contracts in restraint of marriage, marriage brokerage contracts, wagers, and gambling contracts; all of these, or others of like character, are opposed to good morals, and are void, whether expressly prohibited by

statute or not.

Section 11.-CONTRACTS IN RESTRAINT OF TRADE. Every contract by which any one is restrained from exercising a lawful profession, trade, or business of any kind, is to that extent void. The courts have found great difficulty, however, in determining what are contracts in restraint of trade, within the meaning of the law. It is the public policy to encourage trade and traffic, and any contract which would have the effect of depriving the public of the advantages of competition in trade is void, as opposed to public policy. Thus, where all, or nearly all, of an article of trade or commerce within a community or district is brought within the hands of one man or set of men, so as to practically bring the handling or production of the commodity within such single control, to the exclusion of competition or free traffic therein, this constitutes a monopoly, and is in restraint of trade. Reasonable combinations to regulate prices are valid. But if one agrees with another that he will never again at any time or place work at his trade, or carry on his business, or exercise his profession, such a contract, being without limitation as to time or place, is considered to be in restraint of trade, and is void.

Civil Code, Section 1673.

Section 12.-SALE OF GOOD WILL OF A BUSINESS. The sale of the good will of a business forms an exception to the law stated in the last Section. One who sells the good will of a business may agree with the buyer that he will not carry on a similar business within a specified county or city, so long as the buyer, or any person to whom the buyer shall dispose of the good will, carries on a like business at the same place. There is an exception, also, in the case of partners. Partners may, upon a dissolution of the partnership, make a valid contract that none of them will carry on a similar business within the whole or a part of the same city or town where the partnership business has been transacted.

Civil Code, Sections 1674, 1675.