consideration

CONSIDERATION, n. [L. See Consider.]

1. The act of considering; mental view; regard; notice.

Let us take into consideration the consequences of a hasty decision.

2. Mature thought; serious deliberation.

Let us think with consideration.

3. Contemplation; meditation.

The love you bear to Mopsa hath brought you to the consideration of her virtues.

4. Some degree of importance; claim to notice, or regard; a moderate degree of respectability.

Lucan is an author of consideration among the Latin poets.

5. That which is considered; motive of action; influence; ground of conduct.

He was obliged, antecedent to all other considerations, to search an asylum.

6. Reason; that which induces to a determination.

He was moved by the considerations set before him.

7. In law, the reason which moves a contracting party to enter into an agreement; the material cause of a contract; the price or motive of a stipulation. In all contracts, each party gives something in exchange for what he receives.

A contract is an agreement, upon sufficient consideration. This consideration is express or implied; express, when the thing to be given or done is specified; implied, when no specific consideration is agreed upon, but justice requires it and the law implies it; as when a man labors for another, without stipulating for wages, the law infers that he shall receive a reasonable consideration. A good consideration is that of blood, or natural love; a valuable consideration, is such as money, marriage, &c. Hence a consideration is an equivalent or recompense; that which is given as of equal estimated value with that which is received.