Pact

In civil law. An agreement made by two or more persons on the same subject, in order to form some engagement, or to dissolve or modify one already made. Conventio est duorum in idem placitum consensus de re solvenda, id est facienda vel praestanda. Dig. 2. 14; Clef des Lois Rom.; Ayliffe, Pand. 558; Merlin, Repert, "Pacte."

A bargain; compact; agreement. This word is used in writings on Roman law and on general Jurisprudence as the English form of the Latin "pactum," (which see.)

— Nude pact. A translation of the Latin "nudum pactum," a bare or naked pact, that is, a promise or agreement made without any consideration on the other side, which is therefore not enforceable.

— Pact de non alienando. An agreement not to niienate incumbered (particularly mortgaged) property. This stipulation, sometimes found in mortgages made in Louisiana, and derived from the Spanish law, binds the mortgagor not to sell or incumbar the mortgaged premises to the prejudice of the mortgagee; it does not avoid a sale made to a third person, but enables the mortgagee to proceed directly against the mortgaged property in a proceeding against the mortgagor alone and without notice to the purchaser. See Dodds v. Lanaux, 45 La. Ann. 287, 12 South. 345.

An agreement v. Nude pact. Pacta privata non derogant juri cominuni, I. Private agreements cannot derogate from common right (or law).

In the dvil law. Pacta conventa, quae neque contra leges, neque dole malo inita sunt, omni mode observanda sunt: compacts which are not against law, nor entered into with a fraudulent design, are in all respects to be observed. Pacta qase contra leges constitutionesqne, vel contra bonos mores fluut, nullam vim habere, indubitati juris est: that contracts which are made against law br against good morals, have no force, is a principle of undoubted law. Pacta qnw turpem causam continent non sunt observanda: agreements founded upon an immoral consideration^ are not to be observed.

An agreement, engagement. In Roman law, a pact was the utmost product of the engagements of individuals agreeing among themselves, and it distinctly fell short of a contract. "Whether it ultimately became a. contract depended upon the question whether the law annexed an obligation to it. A contract was a pact (or convention) plus an obligation. So long as the pact remained unclothed with the obligation it was called " nude " or " naked." " Nude pact. An agreement to do or pay anything on one side without compensation on the other; ' a promise without a consideration. See Consideration, 2; Pactum.

An agreement. The word IS common in books founded on the civil law, and in Louisiana decisions, but is rarely used alone under common-law systems. It appears, however, in the terms nude pact and compact.