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Other Quasi-Contractual Condictiones

As previously observed, the condictio was an actio in personam arising from the ius strictum[875] by which the plaintiff claimed that a specific thing or quantity thereof (in the case of resfungibiles), or a fixed sum of money, had to be transferred to him by the defendant.[876] This remedy was used to enforce stipulatio and mutuum, and was also employed in certain cases where a person acquired something from another's property without a valid legal ground or dishonestly.

In these cases the condictio arose from quasi-contract and the relevant claim was grounded on the general principle that it is inequitable that one person should unjustifiably be enriched at the expense of another.[877] This principle formed the basis of the condictio indebiti, insofar as a portion of a person's property without any legal ground passed to the property of another. If the previous state of affairs was not restored, the receiver of the property would be unjustly enriched to the detriment of the other party.[878] The most important quasi-contractual condictiones, besides the above-mentioned condictio indebiti, were the condictio causa data causa non secuta; the condictio ob turpem vel iniustam causam; and the condictio sine causa.

The condictio causa data causa non secuta lay where a property was handed over in anticipation of a specific event or the performance of a specific deed by the receiver (e.g. money given as dowry for a future marriage), and this did not eventuate. By means of this remedy the giver reclaimed the property transferred.[879]

The condictio ob turpem vel iniustam causam was used for the recovery of a payment made by an innocent person for an illegal or immoral cause (e.g. for a debt contracted under compulsion). The plaintiff had to be free of guilt (turpitudo), otherwise he could not launch this action.[880]

Finally, the condictio sine causa was a general action introduced in the post- classical period that covered a wide variety of cases where ownership had been transferred without good cause.[881]

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Source: Mousourakis G.. Fundamentals of Roman Private Law. Springer, 2012.— 366 p.. 2012

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  3. II THE CONDICTIONES IN ROMAN LAW
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  6. The Ideas behind the Quasi Categories
  7. The Content of the Quasi Categories
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  9. Quasi delicts
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  12. Contractual Agreements in Favour of a Third Party
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  14. III. QUASI-CONTRACT
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