LIST OF PRINCIPAL WORKS

REFERRED TO

ARNDTS, Lehrbuch der Pandekten, 9th ed. 1877.

BECHMANN, Der Kauf nach gemeinem Recht, 1876.

BELL'S Principles of the Law of Scotland, 9th ed. 1889.
BENJAMIN, On Sale, 4th ed. 1888.

CHALMERS, Sale of Goods, 1890.

DEMANTE, Cours analytique de Code Cirii, vol. vii.

GLÜCK, Ausführliche Erläuterung der Pandekten, 1867.

IHERING, Geist des römischen Rechts, 4th ed. 1878.

MOMMSEN, Beiträge zum Obligationenrecht, 1853.

MUIRHEAD, Historical Introduction to the Private Law of Rome, 1886.

POTHIER, Traité du Contrat de Vente, 1772.

SAVIGNY, Obligationenrecht, 1851.

System des heutigen römischen Rechts, 1840.

TREITSCHKE, Der Kaufcontract in besonderer Beziehung auf den Waarenhandel, 2nd ed. 1866.

VANGEROW, Lehrbuch der Pandekten, 7th ed. 1876.

VERING, Geschichte und Pandekten des römischen und heutigen gemeinen Privatrechts, 5th ed. 1887.

WÄCHTER, Pandekten, 1880.

WINDSCHEID, Lehrbuch des Pandektenrechts, 4th ed. 1875.

THE CONTRACT OF SALE IN THE

CIVIL LAW.

CHAPTER I.

NATURE OF SALE, AND ITS RELATION TO OTHER

COGNATE CONTRACTS.

Definition of Sale. The Contract is consensual and 'synallagmatic,' entailing obligations on both parties. Fundamental points of difference between the English and the Civil Law on the subject. Relation of Sale to Exchange: to Hiring and Letting.

of Sale.

THE Contract of Sale (Emptio Venditio), or more shortly, Definition Sale, is the contract by which two parties promise one another respectively, the one to transfer a thing, the other to pay a determinate price for that thing1. What precisely is meant by the words transfer, thing, price, will be more fully considered hereafter.

tract is

The contract belongs to the class known to the Roman The conlawyers as consensual. With possibly one slight exception, consen

1 Le Contrat de Vente est un Contrat par lequel l'un des contractans, qui est le vendeur, s'oblige envers l'autre de lui faire avoir librement à titre de propriétaire une chose, pour le prix d'une certaine somme d'argent que l'autre contractant, qui est l'acheteur, s'oblige réciproquement de lui payer: Pothier, Contrat de Vente, 1. La vente est une convention par laquelle l'un s'oblige à livrer une chose, et l'autre à la payer: Code Civil, Art. 1582. See a similar definition in Bell's Principles of the Law of Scotland, § 85

2 Code Civil, Art. 1583.

B

sual,

and synallagmatic.

it is binding on both parties so soon as they are agreed definitely and without conditions, upon the thing to be bought and sold, and on the price to be paid. How that agreement is expressed is immaterial. It may be done by word of mouth, by messenger, by correspondence, or by conduct no form is necessary 1, nor is part performance ever or in any degree an essential condition of the obliga tion, as was the case with the contracts which the civilians term Real 2.

The contract is further synallagmatic: that is to say, it must be for the benefit of both parties, and each must be bound. It is possible that the obligation of one or other of them may be 'naturalis' only, so that he cannot be sued for breach, while he has the right of enforcing it against the other but if either of them is not bound at all, then neither is the other 1.

From this it is clear, that promises to sell (the other party not being bound to buy), or promises to buy (the other party not being bound to sell), or promises made between A and B respectively to buy of and sell to one another, if required, though they seem to play a somewhat prominent part in the laws of those European countries which are founded on the Civil Law 5, are not enforceable

1 Est autem emptio iuris gentium, et ideo consensu peragitur: Dig. 18. 1. 1. 2. 2 Dig. 44. 7. 52. I.

3 Ce contrat est synallagmatique, c'est à dire qu'il contient un engagement réciproque de chacun des contractans, l'un envers l'autre, ainsi qu'il resulte de la définition que nous en avons donnée. C'est un contrat commutatif, dans lequel l'intention de chacun des contractans est de recevoir autant qu'il donne: Pothier, 2.

Bona fides non patitur ut, cum emptor alicuius legis beneficio pecuniam rei venditae debere desiisset antequam res ei tradatur, venditor tradere compellatur, et re sua careret; Dig. 19. 1. 50. For a very complete examination of certain cases in which it is alleged by some writers that the contract is unilateral only, or at any rate 'imperfectly bilateral,' see Bechmann, Kauf, §§ 161–186.

5 See Code Civil, Art. 1589, 1590; Demante, Cours analytique de Code Civil, pp. 16-31: Pothier, 476-495: Bechmann, Kauf, §§ 190-195.