Agreement
a mutual bargain, contract, or covenant. Every state has particular laws on this important matter. It may, however, be noticed as general rule: (1) That the assent is the essence of an agreement, and that the parties must be in situations to testify their free assent to it. Thus lunatics, infants, and, in certain cases, married women, are, for obvious reasons, deemed incapable of binding themselves by any engagement. (2) That the subject of agreement must not be tainted with illegality. (3) In order to secure the aid of the law in carrying it into effect, an agreement must have certain qualities mutually beneficial to the parties, or must be entered AGRICULTURAL CHEMISTRY into with certain prescribed solemnities.
Courts of justice cannot be called upon to take cognizance of idle or inconsiderate promises. An agreement must either be contracted by a formal instrument in writing, sealed and openly acknowledged by the party who has bound itself to it; or, if contracted in a less formal manner, by word or otherwise, it must appear that the parties derive from it reciprocal benefit.