In this article, the authors investigate the interplay between the Peierls instability and magnetism in members of the NiC family, where =Nd, Pr, Ce. Transport, magnetic, specific heat, and galvanomagnetic properties are studied. In NdNiC, the charge density wave state is partially suppressed by an antiferromagnetic transition. The application of a strong enough magnetic field induces a ferromagnetic transition, accompanied by further destruction of the charge density wave and by a metastable lattice transformation. PrNiC shows the opposite behavior in that, although the Peierls instability is initially weakened by the Zeeman splitting of the conduction bands, the magnetic anomaly restores and even enhances the nesting conditions.