DETRIMENT

detriment.  1.  Any  loss  or  harm  suffered  by  a  person  or  property.  2.Contracts.  The

relinquishment of some legal right that a promisee would have otherwise been entitled to exercise.

— Also termed legal detriment. Cf. BENEFIT(2).

“A promise or an act may be a detriment although on balance the promisor is making a good

bargain.  Thus  a  promise  to  pay  £10,000  for  a  Rolls  Royce  worth  £12,000,  is  none  the  less  a

detriment, and a good consideration for a promise to deliver the car.” P.S. Atiyah, An Introduction

to the Law of Contract 101 (3d ed. 1981).

detriment to a promisee.Contracts. Consideration offered by a promisee to a promisor, esp. in

a unilateral contract. [Cases: Contracts    52. C.J.S. Contracts § 90.] [Blacks Law 8th]