A declaration, verbal or written, made by one person to another for a good or valuable consideration in the nature of a covenant by which the promisor binds himself to do or forbear some act, and gives to the promisee a legal right to demand and enforce a fulfillment. See Taylor v. Miller, 113 N. C. 340, 18 S. E. 504; New- comb v. Clark, 1 Denio (N. Y.) 22S; Foute v. Bacon, 2 Cush. (Miss.) 104; U. S. v. Baltic Mills Co., 124 Fed. 41, 59 C. C. A. 558. ÒPromiseÓ is to be distinguished, on the one hand, from a mere declaration of intention involving no engagement or assurance as to the future; and, on the other, from Òagreement,Ó which is an obligation arising upon reciprocal promises, or upon a promise founded on a consideration. Abbott. ÒFictitious promises,Ó sometimes called Òimplied promises,Ó or Òpromises implied in law,Ó occur in the case of those contracts which were invented to enable persons in certain cases to take advantage of the old rules of pleading peculiar to contracts, and which are not now of practical importance. Sweet
