The sale of non-existing objects
If the potential objects of a contract of sale were multifarious, a very basic requirement for its validity was that such object did in fact exist: "Nee emptio nee venditio sine re quae veneat potest intellegi.1,49 Thus, if the slave who was to be the object of the sale had died before the contract was concluded, if a house had burnt down or a vessel had been smashed before it was sold, the contract was void.
It was impossible for the vendor, under these circumstances, to fulfil what he had promised: he could not make delivery and provide undisturbed possession and enjoyment of something that had ceased to exist. "Impossibilium nulla obligatio est" was the fundamental principle governing these situations.50 By the same token, a sale was not regarded as invalid merely because the vendor was not owner of what he sold: "Rem alienam distrahere quern posse nulla dubitatio est: nam emptio est et venditio."51 However, as the text continues,.. res emptori auferri potest". On the consequences and implications of such an act of eviction, more anon.4.
More on the topic The sale of non-existing objects:
- THE POSSIBLE OBJECTS OF A CONTRACT OF SALE
- The Dealing in Cultural Objects (Offences) Act 2003 and the boxed commentary
- Blockchain as a Grand “Technical Fix”—Assessing Existing Pilot Projects
- The objects of lease
- A legacy (legatum) was a particular form of testamentary disposition whereby the testator left one or more specific objects to some person who was not one of his heirs.
- In the late Empire, the scope of existing offence categories was extended and several new offences were introduced by imperial legislation to tackle new forms of wrongdoing induced by societal changes.
- The relationship between contract of sale and transfer of ownership
- Functions of Licence to Sell: Modalities of Sale
- Initial impossibility and contracts of sale
- Emptio-Venditio (Sale)