Literal contract
An entry in the cashbook of a Roman citizen created a new obligation that replaced the previous obligation from another contract. This new literal obligation, as Gaius called it (3.128), relieved the creditor from the burden of proving the original obligation.
The mechanism of the contract, available only for money debts, is obscure. According to Gaius (3.128), there were two kinds of entries: (a) when the previous obligation between the parties was entered and thereby transformed into a new literal obligation; and (b) when the previous obligation still due was entered as discharged, and the same amount was entered as being owed by a third party who became liable for the debt of the previous debtor. The literal contract could produce the same effect as a novation by stipulation.The conciseness of Gaius’s account suggests that the literal contract had already disappeared in his time, probably because the accounting system itself became obsolete. The Institutes of Justinian (3.13.2) referred to it, probably to justify the creation of a new literal contract with the purpose of granting full validity of a debt derived from the mere existence of a written document.
More on the topic Literal contract:
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- From contract verbis to contract litteris
- The subject called �obligations' is mostly about contract and delict. There are some other heads to be considered, but the right impression is given if we say that contract and delict between them occupy about ninety per cent of the ground.
- There are different ways or organising a law of contract. That is as much as to say that there are different ways of responding to the central tasks which contract has to perform.
- 5. PRIVITY OF CONTRACT
- Contract and pollicitatio
- The right of unilateral withdrawal from a contract
- Delict and contract
- Quasi-contract