Written contracts Flashcards
1
Q
General
A
Knowledge of the Roman written contract – expensilatio or nomina transcripticia- is essentially all from G’s account and Theophilus’s account
- Seemed to exist well before the end of the legis actio period
- But had become long obsolete by J’s time – no mention of it in Digest or Institutes
2
Q
In the republic
A
- The head of a household would keep his receipts and outgoings – that were noted in a daybook (adversaria) – in his ledger (codex accepti et depensi)
- The obligation literis (by writing) was created by an entry in the ledger of an advance alleged to have been the debtor, the entry imposing the duty upon him
- The entry was the obligation – unilateral and stricti iuris
- But the entry had to be distinguished from records taken from the adversaria (notes) of actual receipts and disbursements
- The obligation could only be for a sum of money
- So was enforceable by the actio certae pecuniae creditae
- The obligation could not be conditional
3
Q
availability of the contract literis
A
was the topic of a school debate
- Proculians – exclusive to cives
- Sabinians – only cives could be creditors – but peregrines could be debtors where transcription was a re in personam
4
Q
Rise in banking in relation to written contracts
A
- Saw a decline in households keeping records – bankers did it instead
- Literal contract survived among bankers into late classical times
- BUT increasing importance of the cautio in stipulatio - contributed to its decline
- It was already unknown to a 4th century writer
5
Q
A