Tbactus

QUASI-CONTRACTUS (Lat.). In Civil Law. An obligation similar In character to that of a contract, but which arises not from an agreement of parties but from some relation between them, or from a voluntary act of one of them. An obligation springing from voluntary and lawful acts of parties in the absence of any agreement. Howe, Stud. Civ. L. 171. An obligation which grows out of certain relations between persons whereby they become bound to each other by duties similar to those arising from a contract Morey, Rom. L. 371. Quasi-contracts were a well-defined class under the civil law. By the civil code of Louisiana they are defined to be “the lawful and purely voluntary acts of a man, from which there results any obligation whatever to a third person and sometimes a reciprocal obligation between parties. In quasi-c. ontracts the obligation arises not from consent, as in the case of contracts, but from the law or natural equity. According to Prof. Ames (Lect on Leg. Hist. 160) the term was not foimd in the common law, but it has been taken by writers of the common law from the Roman law. It may be considered now as quite domesticated even to the extent of being used as the title of a very valuable common-law textbook: Keener, Quasi-Contract. They are “founded (1) upon a record, (2) upon a statutory, official or customary duty, or (3) upon the fundamental principle of justice that no one ought unjustly to enrich himself at the expense of another.” Also, at p. 255, they “are really equitable liabilities upon which the law assumes to give a remedy.” In (1890) 44 Ch. D. p. 107, Lindley, L. J., remarks that owing to the unfortunate terminology of our law,... the expression “implied contract” has been used not only to denote a genuine contract established by inference, but also an obligation which does not arise from any real contract, but which can be enforced as if it had a contractual origin. Obligations of this class are called by the civilians obligationes quasi ew contractu. The subject will be found treated in a subtitle of Contract, supra. See also Contractual Obligation. finite variety but were divided into five Claeses: — 1. 2 Segotiorum gestio, the management of the affairs of another, without authority. 2. Tutelce administrate, the administration of a tutorship. 3. Rei communis administrate, or communio bonorum, the management of common property. 4. Hereditatis adite, the entering upon an inheritance. 5. Indebiti solute, payment by mistake of money not due. They all have certain general features, as that from their nature each has an affinity with some contract; and persons upder disabilities may be affected by them though incapable of contracting. A common error which should be avoided is the confusion of quasi-contracts with implied contracts. The latter are real contracts, differing from express contracts in the nature of the proof by which they are established; but in quasi-con tracts the essential part of the contract, the agreement or convention, is wanting; Maine, Anc. L. 332. See, generally, Inst. 3. 28; Dig. 3. 5; Ayl. Pand. b. 4, tit. 31; 1 Bro. Civ. L. 386; Poth. Obi. n. 113; Merl. R6p. h. t.; Keener, Quasi- Contract; Howe, Stud. Civ. L. Lect. x.; Morey, Rom. Law 371; Sohm, Inst. Rom. Law 315-21; Woodward, Quasi-Contracts (1913).