Receptum argentarii

The receptum argentarii was an informal³⁹ promise by means of which a banker guaranteed payment of his client's debt.⁴⁰ It was very similar to the constitutum debiti alieni, except that under the action arising from this receptum (the actio recepticia) the banker was liable even when the client's obligation was invalid. Like constitutum, the receptum argentarii originated, under Hellenistic influence, in Greek and Roman banking practice. Both transactions avoided the form of stipulatio. By the time of Justinian, the receptum argentarii had become obsolete; it was therefore fused with the constitutum debiti alieni.⁴¹

4.