The nature of societas

The fourth of the consensual contracts was societas (partnership). Unlike sale or hire, it is not a transaction in which the parties' performances are reciprocal. A socius does not give or do anything in order to receive a counterperformance from his fellow socii. Societas is thus not based, primarily, on an antagonism of interests; its essence is the pooling of resources (money, property, expertise or labour, or a combination of them) for a common purpose. Socii, in the words of Daube, are not bent on getting the utmost out of each other; they are, in the first place, "friends", pursuing their common interests against third parties.¹

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