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.

I.

In the civil law. A pact; an agreement or convention without specific name, and without consideration, which, however, might, in its nature, produce a civil obligation. Pactum corvinum de hs Breditate viventis: a crow-like bargain for the inheritance of a living person. Pactum de non petendo: an agreement not to sue.

Lat. In old English law, A deed; a person’s act and deed; unything stated or made certain; a sealed instrument; a deed of conveyance. A fact; a circumstance; particularly a fact in evidence. Bract. fol. 16.

In testamentary law. The execution or due execution of a will. The factum of an instrument means nob barely the signing of it, and the formal publication or delivery, but proof that the party well knew and understood the contents thereof, and did give, will, dispose, and do, in all things, as in the said will is contained. 11 How. 354.

In the civil law. Fact; a fact; a matter of fact, as distinguished from a matter of law. Dig. 41, 2, 1, 3.

In French law. A memoir which contains concisely set down the fact on which a coutest has happened, the means on which a party founds his pretensions, with the refutation of the means of the adverse party. Viecat. ( tum a judice quod ad ejusa offim non spectat non ratum est. An on of a judge which relates not to his ofais of no forces. Dig. 50, 17,170; 10 Coke, _ Factum cuique suum non adversario, noceré debet. Dig. 50, 17,155. A party’s own det should prejudice himself, not his adversary.. Factum infectum fleri nequit. A thing done cannot be undone. 1 Kames, Eq. 96, 259.

An agreement, engagement, pact. Nudum pactum. An undertaking not supported by a consideration. Ex nudo pacta non oritur actio. From a bare agreement no action arises; no cause of action can be based upon a mere promise, without a legal consideration. See Pact.

Lat. A pact; compact, agreement. Pacta dant legem contractui: the stipulations of the parties constitute the law of the contract. Pacta privata non derogant juri communi: private agreements cannot derogate from public right. Pactum corvinum de hereditate viventis: a crow-like bargain for the inheritance of a living person. Pactum de non petendo: an agreement not to sue.

An agreement; a pact. In the civil law, this term is applied to any agreement or convention not having a specific name, and which was without consideration; such an agreement would In the Roman law, with some exceptions, those agreements that the law does not directly enforce, but which it recognizes only as a valid ground of defence, were called pacta. Those agreements that are enforced — in other words, are supported by actions — are called contractus. The exceptions are few, and belong to a late period. Hunt. Rom. Law, 375. The term, as used in Latin phrases and maxims adopted by the common law, has often a more general signification, and is not restricted to the technical sense given above. See Nudum Pactum. Pactum constitutae pecuniae. An agreement for payment of money as appointed. A term designating 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, simply, an agreement by which a person promises a creditor to pay him. Pactum or pactio is' any agreement other than a contractus. The institutes do not contain any definition of contractus nearer than the following, of obligatio; a legal bond which ties us down so that we must needs do something, according to the laws of our state. Hunt. Rom. L. 281. The pactum deconstitutomay be defined as a promise by any one to discharge an existing obligation of another on a day named, or to give security for its fulfilment. (Dig. 13, 5,28; Dig. 13, 5, 21, 2.) In what respect, then, does this informal agreement (pact) difierfrom the stipulation lfidejussio)1 Both Jidejussio and constitutum are accessory to an existing obligation, and in this respect are both contrasted with mandatum. In form, the difference between them is simply that one is made by, and the other without, interrogation of the surety. The only apparent distinction, then, is that^dejussio contemplated as possible an immediate liability of the surety; wliile the pactum de constitute postponed the liability of the surety to a future day. This difference, apparently trivial, rests upon a sound basis. In Jidejussio there need be no valuable consideration; but in the pact there was a consideration, — namely, the forbearance of the creditor to sue; for the essence of the contract was to give time to the debtor. Hunt. Rom. L. 368. Factum de nou petando. An agreement not to demand; an agreement between a creditor and his debtor, that the former will not demand from the This is not unlike the covenant not to sue of the common law. Pacta privata jure publico derogare non possunt. Private agreements cannot derogate from public law. Otherwise expressed, pactis privatorum juri publico non derogatur, ■ — agreements of private individuals do not derogate from public law. This maxim of the civil law imports that no private bargain or arrangement between individuals can validate any contravention of the law, or render that valid and binding which the law declares to be invalid and ineffectual. Thus an agreement not to object to an obligation for a debt incurred at gambling does not validate the obligation or bar objection, because the fixed rule of law is that such obligations cannot be enforced. Nor, in like manner, will such an agreement validate an obligation which proceeds ob turpem causam. This applies merely to contracts which are in themselves illegal, impolitic, or contra honos mores. It is not, therefore, to be regarded as absolute, for there are some legal provisions which may be derogated from by private bargain. Trayn. Max. Pacta quse turpem causam continent non sunt observanda. Agreements which embrace a base consideration are not to be observed. Contracts founded upon an immoral consideration are not binding. See Ex turpi causa non oritur actio. Paine forte et dure. See Peine forte et dure.