BALFOUR v BALFOUR, Intent p. 4, Court of Appeal, 1919 Facts: Wife is suing husband. They were in England but then the husband had to leave for work, wife remained in England on doctor’s advice. Husband and wife agreed that he would send her 30l a month for her to live off on until she was well enough to join the husband. They ended up divorced and she is suing for alimony. She won and now he is appealing.
General Rules: A agreement is not a contract if the parties did not intend, at the time the agreement was made, that they should be attended by legal consequences. Issues: Holdings: Reasoning: Is an agreement between husband and wife necessarily a contract. No this is not a contract. Agreements between husband and wife are not contracts bound by a court. All I can say is that the small Courts of this country would have to be multiplied one hundredfold if these arrangements were held to result in legal obligations. They are not sued upon because the parties, in the inception of the arrangement, never intended that they should be sued upon. Agreements such as these are outside the realm of contracts altogether. Common law does not regulate the form of agreements between spouses.