Lampleigh v Brathwait (1615) Hob 105

Brathwait had killed a man and asked Lampleigh to undertake efforts to obtain a royal pardon. Lampleigh travelled and incurred expense in carrying out the request. After those efforts, Brathwait promised him £100, but did not pay. Lampleigh sued on the promise. The timing raised the objection that his work had already been performed before the express promise of payment. The court had to consider whether the earlier request and the later undertaking were legally connected, rather than treating the work as an unsolicited favour rewarded solely out of gratitude.

Could the later promise of payment be enforced where the earlier services had been undertaken at the promisor's request in circumstances supporting remuneration?

The court held that the later promise to pay could be linked to the earlier requested service and was enforceable. Brathwait had asked Lampleigh to undertake efforts to obtain a royal pardon, and those substantial efforts were carried out in response. The promise was therefore not treated as a purely gratuitous reward for an unsolicited benefit. The request and the later undertaking formed part of the relevant transaction. The case does not establish that any service retrospectively rewarded supplies consideration. The circumstances must support the connection with a requested service understood to attract remuneration, rather than an act intended to be performed without payment.

A later promise may be enforceable where an earlier act was requested and performed on an understanding that it would be remunerated, so the promise fixes or recognises the reward for that service. A purely voluntary past benefit does not acquire consideration merely through later gratitude.

Lampleigh is the conventional qualification to the rule against past consideration. Its explanation depends on the original request and the character of the service, not a general power to enforce morally deserving promises. Compare Eastwood v Kenyon, where a later undertaking could not simply turn an earlier benefit into contractual consideration. In a problem, identify what was requested, the parties' understanding about reward when the act occurred and how the later promise relates to that earlier transaction.