The essentialia negotii
For a valid sale to come into existence, the parties had to agree on the object of the sale and the price. They could provide further details of their transaction: either of them could reserve the right to rescind the contract under certain circumstances, the purchaser could ask the vendor to guarantee certain qualities of the thing sold, the parties could specify the place of performance, etc.
But these were merely accidentalia negotii, special arrangements of the parties, which did not determine the nature of the contract. As long as object and price had been agreed upon, the contract could be classified as sale; at least with regard to these essential elements, the contract had to be the work of the parties and an expression of their private autonomy. Exact determination of reciprocal rights and duties and of the effects and consequences of the transaction, on the other hand, was not necessarily the business of the parties; such regulations normally connected with or "naturally" flowing from any contract of sale (hence: "naturalia negotii") were (and still are) usually provided by the law.27 We shall deal first with the essentialia and then with the naturalia negotii.II.
More on the topic The essentialia negotii:
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- Conversion
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- Locatio Conductio
- Negotiorum Gestio
- Leases for a fixed term
- The Etruscans
- Magistrates’ courts
- Globalization: the obsession with measurement
- 2. The penal character of the remedy
- Introduction
- Rules of interpretation: in general
- The law of succession addresses the legal destiny of a person’s rights and duties after his death.
- Beyond Roman Law by Means of Roman Law
- The Organisation of Roman Contract
- Sources and Classifications of Obligations