Law of Contracts 199 



value. He is also at liberty to put an end to 

 contracts of this kind at any time and not re- 

 ceive any more under them, but he must pay the 

 fair value of what he has actually received. Of 

 course, he may, if he choose, waive the defense 

 of infancy and fulfil any of his contracts, except 

 possibly those relating to real estate, which are 

 sometimes held to be absolutely void, and, in 

 case he does waive this defense, his contracts 

 are as binding as any person's would be. 



As to the requisite mental capacity of persons 

 to enable them to make binding contracts, the 

 following rules are generally adopted: When a 

 person has been judicially declared insane, or 

 incompetent, every person is charged with knowl- 

 edge of his insanity, or incompetency. Con- 

 sequently, any one who makes a contract with 

 him does so at the risk of having the incompe- 

 tent person refuse to perform it. The result is 

 the same in cases where the insanity or incom- 

 petency has not been judicially declared, but the 

 other party to the contract knew that the person 

 was incapable of understanding the bargain. A 

 contract made with a drunken person when he is 

 so drunk as not to understand the nature of the 

 agreement into which he has entered, stands on 

 the same basis as those made with insane or 

 incompetent persons. 



As to the contracts of married women: It is 



