The Sanctity of Contracts in English Law - College of Social ...

28 Encroachments on Sanctity of Contractsagreement to pay a sum of money by way of fee orreward in respect of any services relating to suchcontract. 18The statute of 1664 which I have already mentioned,as well as making all wagering debts over £100 onplayers irrecoverable, declared all securities givenfor such debts void. The statute 9 Anne, c. 14, wasmore sweeping: it declared void all securities givenfor money lost in playing at games or pastimes orin betting upon players or knowingly advanced forsuch purposes. The Gaming Act, 1835, s. 1, modifiedthat sweeping provision and introduced the modernrule whereby securities caught by the Act of Anneare deemed to have been made or accepted on anillegal consideration.The net effect of the betting legislation in the fieldof contracts was to make bets as such and securitiesgiven for lost bets unenforceable (as between theimmediate parties) in the courts, leaving them to betreated as debts of honour or gentlemen's agreements.INFANTS' CONTRACTSYet another line of country in which the legislaturehas from time to time declared contracts void iswhere, owing to the presumably inferior bargainingposition of one of the parties, the other party mighttake advantage of this weakness. The obvious exampleis that of the infant. At common law thecontracts of an infant other than those for goods18 Thua reversing the rule in Read v. Anderson (1884) 13 Q.B.D.779, which requires a principal to indemnify his agent.