Range of application

Stipulationes poenae were employed in Roman law in conjunction with all sorts of transactions.^{[553] [554] [555] They were used to secure the observance of obligations arising from sale, hire or partnership agreements,[556] the enforcement of settlements or the repayment of a loan; their field of application extended to the law of property, to family law[557] and to succession.[558] In three types of transactions, however, penalty stipula­tions found a particularly prominent expression: compromissa, stipulationes duplae and cautiones vadimonium sisti.}

"Si ut aliquid fiat stipulemur, et usitatius ct elegantius esse Labeo ait sic subici poenam: 'si ita factum non erit': at cum quid ne fiat stipulemur, tunc hoc modo: 'si adversus ca factum erif: et cum alia fieri, alia non fieri coniuncte stipulemur, sic comprehendum: 'si non feceris, si quid adversus ea feceris'."^[565]

Forfeiture of the penalty would then be decided accordingly: where the stipulatio poenae aimed at securing forbearance ("Si in Capitolium ascenderis, centum mihi dari spondes?"), the penalty became exactable in case of contravention; where the penalty was used to exert pressure to act ("Si intra biennium Capitolium non ascenderis, centum mihi dari spondes?" ), forfeiture occurred in case of failure to do the act.

5.