§17. REQUIREMENT OF A BARGAIN

(1) Except as stated in Subsection (2), the formation of a contract requires a bargain in which there is a manifestation of mutual assent to the exchange and a consideration.

(2) Whether or not there is a bargain a contract may be formed under special rules applicable to formal contracts or under the rules stated in §§82-94.

Comments

b. Bargains....The typical contract is a bargain, and is binding without regard to form. The governing principle in the typical case is that bargains are enforceable unless some other principle conflicts. This chapter and the next deal with the two essential elements of a bargain: agreement and exchange.

c. "Meeting of the minds." The element of agreement is sometimes referred to as a "meeting  of the minds." The parties to most contracts give actual as well as apparent assent, but it is clear that a mental reservation of a party to a bargain does not impair the obligation he purports to undertake. The phrase used here, therefore, is "manifestation of mutual assent," as in the definition of "agreement" in §3....

e. Informal contract without bargain. There are numerous atypical cases where informal promises are binding though not made as part of a bargain. In such cases it is often said that there is consideration by virtue of reliance on the promise or by virtue of some circumstance, such as a "past consideration," which does not involve the element of exchange....There is no requirement of agreement for such contracts. They are the subject of §§82-94.