Accord - Definition - Law Dictionary Home Dictionary Definition accord

Definition :

Accord. An amicable arrangement between parties especially between people or nation; compact or treaty, Black's Law Dictionary, 7th Edn. Accord and Satisfaction [fr. accorder, Fr., to agree], an agreement between two persons, one of whom has a right of action against the other, that the latter should do or give and the former accept something in satisfaction of the right of action. When the agreement is executed, and satisfaction has been made, it is called accord and satisfaction. Accord and satisfaction bars the right of action; accord without satisfaction, or satisfaction without accord, does not.* In the case of an ascertained debt, the acceptance of a smaller sum is no satisfaction, e.g., payment of Rs. 50. is no answer to an action for a debt of Rs. 100; though if anything other than money, e.g., a negotiable instrument for a smaller amount or a peppercorn, had been accepted in satisfaction, the action would have been barred, see Couldery v. Bartrum, (1881) 19 Ch D 399; Cumber v. Beer, (1884) 9 App Cas 605. So also if a smaller sum is sent by a third party 'in full settlement' and retained; Punamchand v. Temple, 1911 (2) KB 330; 80 LJ KB 1155. A substituted agreement may be accepted in accord and satisfaction of a cause of action; Hall v. Flockton, (1849) 14 QB 380; Ib., 16 QB 1039; but whether the new agreement in itself or the performance of it constitutes the accord and satisfaction depends on its construction, Elton Cop Dyeing Co. v. Broadbent, (1920) 89 LJ KB 186.

If a bill or note is given by a debtor to his creditor on account and accepted by the latter and nothing is said as to the terms on which it is given, the legal effect of the transaction is that the original debt remains, but that the remedy is suspended until the maturity of the instrument in the hands of the creditor. The position is the same if the bill or note is given, not by the debtor, but by a stranger; Allen v. Royal Bank of Canada, 95 LJ PC 17. And see CONSIDERATION.

* See British Russian Gazette Ltd. v. Associated Newspapers Ltd., 1933 (2) KB 616.