BARGAIN

bargain,n. An agreement between parties for the exchange of promises or performances. • A bargain is not necessarily a contract because the consideration may be insufficient or the transaction may be illegal. See BARGAIN SALE; informal contract under CONTRACT. [Cases: Contracts  1.C.J.S. Contracts §§ 2–3, 9, 12.] — bargain,vb.

“A bargain is an agreement of two or more persons to exchange promises, or to exchange a promise for a performance. Thus defined, ‘bargain’ is at once narrower than ‘agreement’ in that it is not applicable to all agreements, and broader than ‘contract’ since it includes a promise given in exchange for insufficient consideration. It also covers transactions which the law refuses to recognize as contracts because of illegality.” Samuel Williston, A Treatise on the Law of Contracts § 2A, at 7 (Walter H.E. Jaeger ed., 3d ed. 1957).

catching bargain.An agreement on unconscionable terms to purchase real property from — or loan money secured by real property to — a person who has an expectant or reversionary interest in the property.

illegal bargain.A bargain whose formation or performance is criminal, tortious, or otherwise

contrary to public policy.

plea bargain.See PLEA BARGAIN. time-bargain. See FUTURES CONTRACT.

unconscionable bargain.See unconscionable agreement under AGREEMENT. BARGAIN AND SALE

bargain and sale. 1. A negotiated transaction, usu. for goods, services, or real property. 2.Hist. A written agreement for the sale of land whereby the buyer would give valuable consideration (recited in the agreement) without having to enter the land and perform livery of seisin, so that the parties equitably “raised a use” in the buyer. • The result of the transaction was to leave the legal estate in fee simple in the seller and to create an equitable estate in fee simple in the buyer until legal title was transferred to the buyer by delivery of a deed. In most jurisdictions, the bargain and sale has been replaced by the statutory deed of grant. [Cases: Deeds  22.C.J.S. Deeds § 16.][Blacks Law 8th]