CONTRACTUS

Lat. Contract; a contract; contracts. Contractus bona fidei. In Roman law. Contracts of good faith. Those contracts which, when brought into litigation, were not determined by the rules of the strict law alone, but allowed the judge to examine into the bona fides of the transaction, and to hear equitable considerations against their enforcement. In this they were opposed to contracts stricti juris, against which equitable defenses could not be entertained. Contractus civlles. In Roman law. Civil contracts. Those contracts which were recognized as actionable by the strict civil law of Rome, or as being founded upon a particular statute, as distinguished from those which could not be enforced in the courts except by the aid of the pnetor, who, through his equitable powers, gave an action upon them. The latter were called “contractus prwtorii. Contractus est quasi actus contra actum. 2 Coke, 15. A contract is, as it were, act against act Contractus en turpi causa, vel contra bonos mores, nullus est. A contract founded on a base consideration, or against good morals, is null. Hob. 167. Contractus legem ex conventione accipiunt. Contracts receive legal sanction from the agreement of the parties. Dig. 16, 3, 1, 6.