4. DISCHARGE OF OBLIGATIONS

An obligation might be discharged without the consent of the parties in a number of ways, such as by supervening impos­sibility (e.g.

To us it seems evident that performance must discharge an obligation, but the formalism of early law seems to have required that a bond which has been formally created should be formally dissolved. Hence we find formal acknowledgements of perform­ance, both verbis {acceptilatio) and Uteris {accepti relatio), corre­sponding to the stipulation and the literal contract. Thus in acceptilatio the debtor asks the creditor whether he has received

satisfaction and the creditor replies that he has. In the classical law, however, performance by itself had become sufficient, and acceptilatio was simply a method of release without satisfaction, the acknowledgement being fictitious. But for such a release the formal act was necessary: a simple agreement was effective only by way of exceptio pacti.¹ On the other hand, an obligation ex consensu, since it was created by agreement, could be released simply by a contrary agreement.

Discharge by novation is considered below.