Domination & submission _ the BDSM relationship handbook ( PDFDrive )

consideration involves money or merchandise. Love, affection, loyalty,
and gifts do not legally qualify as consideration.
· Mutuality of Obligation. A valid contract mutually obligates both
parties to something. If there is an absolute right to cancel by any of the
parties, the contract is unenforceable and not legally binding.
· In Writing. Verbal contracts are legal and binding, but they are
virtually unenforceable.
You don’t have to be a practicing attorney to notice a few things that
immediately leap off the page at you, particularly if you’re reading it in the
context of slave contracts. First, anyone under the age of 18 is not legally
competent to enter into a contract of any kind, and yes, this includes people who
pretend to be older in internet chat rooms. Second, all contracts must have a
legal objective. In 1865, the 13 th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution made
slavery illegal in the United States. That makes any slavery contract, by
definition, a contract that is not legally binding. Many slavery contracts also
have provisions requiring the slave to be available to the Dominant for sex.
Since the Dominant has exchanged something of value (the collar) as
consideration, the contract could actually be considered a contract for
prostitution by many states. Finally, many slave contracts contain clauses that
essentially grant the right to either party to walk away from the agreement
unilaterally, without penalties of any kind, which makes it a contract that is not
legally enforceable.
The bottom line? Slave contracts are neither legal nor enforceable in any court
of law in the United States. Now, you may well ask, isn’t marriage a contract
that often defies many, if not all, of those legal requirements? After all, people
under the age of 18 marry all the time and, in most states, sex is a requirement
for the consummation of the marriage. Additionally, most marriages don’t have
a written contract spelling out all of the rights and obligations of the partners,
and if you ask around, you’ll probably find no shortage of people who are
willing to equate marriage with slavery. So, why are slave contracts illegal,
while marriage contracts are not? Here’s why: A slave contract is a contract
solely between two people; a marriage contract is a contract between a couple
and the government.
This subtle difference is, frankly, the same issue that is at the heart of the gay