Dear All,

I've been staying out of this discussion until now because I don't  

think it is a good idea to provide the student who prompted it with  

just the kind of information that s/he was looking for.

That said, I now feel bound to say that I am surprised that so many  

people see Williams v Roffey as such a special or startling decision.  

Yeah, it's controversial; but there's nothing new about controvesrial  

consideration cases.  From an ever-failing memory I seem to recall  

that Treitel and Atiyah had some kind of spat about consideration  

cases at the margins (nominal versus "invented" consideration?).  And  

what about Nigel Simmonds' essay, "Bluntness and Bricolage", which  

explored and revealed years ago (in Gross and Hyman (eds):  

JURISPRUDENCE: CAMBRIDGE ESSAYS) the way that certain consideration  

cases seemed either to twist, or have very little genuine connection  

with, received wisdom on consideration?

As I say, there's nothing really new about the kind of discussion that  

Roffey prompts.  Its novelty, for me, lies purely in the fact that it  

is (in contract law terms, at least) a new case.

Finally and most importantly, though, what can be done to stop other  

students infiltritating this discussion group.  I'd hate it to get to  

the stage where I almost automatically reach for the delete key when I  

receive an ODG message.

John M