Abstract

Modern jurists regard certain features of Roman contract law as primitive. In Roman law, only certain contracts, such as sale and lease were binding upon consent. Sale was always of a specific object; a generic sale was impossible. Only some contracts, such as sale and lease, were contracts «of good faith»: a party was bound to whatever obligations «good faith» required. In a stipulatio, which was a contract «of strict law», a party was bound to whatever terms the contract specified, but these terms were recited orally. This article suggests that our own contract law is inferior to theirs because it neglects these features