An illusory promise is best described as a promise that is lacking which element?

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Multiple Choice

An illusory promise is best described as a promise that is lacking which element?

An illusory promise is a promise that lacks consideration. For a contract to be enforceable, there must be a bargained-for exchange—each party must commit to give something of value in return. When the promisor retains complete discretion to perform or not, there’s no real obligation and no bargained-for exchange, so nothing of value is actually being promised in return. Because of that, the promise cannot be enforced as a contract. For example, a statement like “I will buy your car if I feel like it next week” binds the buyer to nothing and thus has no consideration.

An illusory promise is a promise that lacks consideration. For a contract to be enforceable, there must be a bargained-for exchange—each party must commit to give something of value in return. When the promisor retains complete discretion to perform or not, there’s no real obligation and no bargained-for exchange, so nothing of value is actually being promised in return. Because of that, the promise cannot be enforced as a contract. For example, a statement like “I will buy your car if I feel like it next week” binds the buyer to nothing and thus has no consideration.

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