Pactum

Lat In the civil law. A pact. An agreement or convention without specific name, and without consideration, which, however, might, in its nature, produco a civll obligation. Heinecc. Elem. llb. 3, tit. 14, § 775.

In Roman law. With some exceptions, those agreements that the law does not directly enforce, but which it recognizes only as a valid ground of defense, were called "pacta." Those agreements that are enforced, in other words, are supported by actions, are called "contractusThe exceptions are few, and belong to a late period. Hunter, Rom. Law, 546.

— Nudum pactum. A bare or naked pact or agreement; a promise or undertaking made without any consideration for it, and therefore not enforceable.

— Pactum constitutae pecuniae. In the civil law. An agreement by which a person appointed to his creditor a certain day or a certain time at which he promised to pay; or an agreement by which a person promises to pay a creditor. Wharton.

— Pactum de non alienando. A pact or agreement binding the owner of property not to alienate it, intended to protect the interests of another; particularly an agreement by the mortgagor of real estate that he wlil not transfer the title to a third person until after satisfaction of the mortgage. See Mackeld. Rom. Law, § 461,

— Pactnm de non petendo. In the civil law. An agreement not to sue. A simple convention whereby a creditor promises the debtor that he will not enforce his clnim. Mackeld. Rom. Law, § 542.

— Pactnm de quota litis. In the civil law. An agreement by which a creditor promised to pay a porlion of a debt difficult to recover to a person who undertook to recover it. Wharton.