- •§1. Place op contract in jurisprudence. 3
- •§ 2. Obligation.
- •§2. Place of contract in jurisprudence. 5
- •§2. Place of contract in jurisprudence. 9
- •§ 2. Acceptance must he absolute, and identical ivith the terms
- •§ I. Agreement,
- •§ 3. II proposal which has not been accepted does not affect the Till accept-
- •§ 5. It proposal may lapse otherwise tJian by revocation as
- •§ 6. Proposal and Acceptance need not necessarily he written Contracts
- •§ 7. A proposal need not be made to an ascertained person,
- •§ I. Contracts of Record.
- •§ 2, Contract under Seal,
- •§ 3. Simple Contracts required to be in writing.
- •§ 4. ConsideItATiaN.
- •§ I. Political or Professional Status,
- •§ 2. Infants,
- •§ 3. Married women.
- •§ 4. Corporations.
- •§ 5. Lunatic and drunken persons.
- •§ 2. MlSbepbesentation.
- •§ 3. Fraud.
- •§ 4. Duress.
- •§ 5. UamuE Influence.
- •§ I. Nature of Illegality m Contract.
- •§ 18 Upon Stock ExchiEknge transactions is well summarised in the
- •§ 2. Effect of Illeoalitt upon Contracts in
- •§ I. Assignment by act of the parties.
- •§ 2. Assignment of contractual rights and liabilities by
- •§ I. Froof of Document,
- •§ 2. Evidence as to /act cf Agreement.
- •§ 3. Evidence as to the terms of the Contract,
- •§ I. General Rales,
- •§ 2. Rvlea 0/ Law and Equity as to Time and Penalties,
- •§ I. Waiver.
- •§ 2. Svhstituted Contract
- •§ 3. Provisions for DischcMrge,
- •§ 1. Position op pabties whebe a Contbact
- •§ 2. Forms of Discharge bt Breach.
- •§ 3. Eemedies fob breach of Contract.
- •§ 4. DiSghaboe of RiOht of AcTion abisiNa
§ I. Contracts of Record.
The obligations which are styled Contracts of Record are Contracts of
Judgment, Recognizance, Statutes Merchant and Staple, and ^^^^ '
Recognizances in the nature of Statute Staple.
And first as to Judgment. The proceedings of Courts of (i) Judg-
Record are entered upon parchment rolls, and upon these "*^"^'
an entry is made of the judgment in an action when that
judgment is final. A judgment awarding a sum of money
to one of two litigants, either by way of damages or for costs,
lays an obligation upon the other to pay the sum awarded.
This obligation may come into existence as the final result How it
of litigation when the Court pronounces judgment, or it may ^"S'"*^^*'-
be created by agreement between the parties before litigation
has commenced, or during its continuance. In such cases
the obligation results from a contract for the making of which
certain formalities are required ; this contract is either a
warrant of attorney, by which one party gives authority to
the other to enter judgment upon terms settled, or a cognovit
a^sttonem^ by which the one party acknowledges the right of
the other in respect of the pending dispute and then gives
a similar authority.
The characteristics of an obligation of this nature may be Us charac>
shortly stated as follows :— teristics.
1. Its terms admit of no dispute, but are conclusively
proved by production of the record.
2. So soon as it is created the previously existing rights
with which it deals merge, or are extinguished in it : for
instance, A sues X for breach of contract or for civil injury:
judgment is entered in favour of 4 either by consent or after ^
trial: A has no further rights in respect of his cause of
action, he only becomes creditor of X for the sum awarded.
3. The creditor, as we may conveniently call the party in
^8 FORltfATION OF CONTRACT. Part n.
whose favour judgment is given, has certain advantages
which an ordinary creditor does not possess. He has a
double remedy for his debt ; he can take out execution upon
the judgment and so obtain directly the sum awarded, and
he can also bring an action for the non-fulfilment of the
obligation. For this purpose the judgment not only of a
Court of Record, but of any Court of competent jurisdiction,*
jon« '"'*''' British or foreign, is treated as creating an obligation upon
i}M.&w.<5a8. ^yjji^jjj j^jj action may be brought for money due.
He had also before 27 and 28 Vict. c. 112 a charge upon
the lands of the judgment debtor during liis lifetime ; but
since the passing of that Statute lands are not afPected by a
judgment until they have been formally taken into execution.
(2) Recog* Kecognizances have been aptly described as ' contracts made
nisance. ^j^j^ ^^^ Crowu in its judicial capacity.* A recognizance is
a writing acknowledged by the party to it before a judge or
officer having authority for the purpose, and enrolled in a
Court of Record. It may be a promise, with penalties for
the breach of it, to keep the peace, or to appear at the
assizes.
(3) Statutes Statutes Merchant and Staple and Recognizances in the
aiid^stapfe "^^^'^^^ ^^ * Statute Staple are chiefly of interest to the
student of the history of Real Property* Law. They have
long since become obsolete, but they were once important,
inasmuch. as they were acknowledgments of debt which,
when made in accordance with Statutory provisions and
enrolled of Record, created a charge upon the lands of the
debtor.
It will easily be seen how little there is of the true nature
of a contract in the so-called Contracts of Record. Judg-
ments are obligations dependent for their binding force,
not on the consent of the parties, but ilpon their direct
promulgation by the sovereign authority acting in its judi-
cial capacity. Recognizances are promises made to the
sovereign with whom, both by the technical rules of English
Chap. II. § 2. FORM. CONTRACT UNDER SEAL. 39
Law and upon the theories of JuriBprudence, the suhject
cannot contract. Statutes Merchant and Staple bhure the
charaxsteristics of judgments. We may therefore dismisfl
these obligations altogether from our consideration.