ex contractu

English

WOTD – 29 August 2019

Etymology

From Latin ex (“from”) + contractū (ablative singular of contractus (“contract”)).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɛks kənˈtɹækt(j)uː/

• Audio (RP)

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• (General American) IPA^(key): /ɛks kənˈtɹæktu/
• Hyphenation: ex con‧trac‧tu

Adjective

ex contractu (not comparable)

1. (law, postpositive) Of a legal obligation: arising from a contractual relationship.
   • 1815, Robert Bell, A Dictionary of the Law of Scotland: […], 2nd edition, volume I, Edinburgh: Printed by Alex. Smellie, for John Anderson & Company; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, & Brown, →OCLC, page 13:

     This act [An Act anent the Aliment of Poor Prisoners 1696 (chapter 32; Parliament of Scotland)] was clearly intended to regulate the case of civil debts; but the question occurred whether by civil debts was meant debts ex contractu, or debts also ex delicto; and the Court were at first of opinion that debtors, whose debts arose ex delicto, were not entitled to the benefit of the statute. [...] The opinion was however given up by the Court in 1787; and debts, though arising ex delicto, were held to be civil debts in the sense of the act, and as such, did not exclude the debtor from the benefit of the statute.

   • 1837, Joseph Chitty, Thomas Chitty, A Treatise on the Parties to Actions, and on Pleading: […], 7th American edition, volume I, Springfield, Mass.: G. and C. Merriam, →OCLC, page 110:

     Personal actions are in form ex contractu or ex delicto, or, in other words, are for breach of contract, or for wrongs unconnected with contract. Those upon contracts are principally assumpsit, debt, covenant, and detinue [...]

   • 1847, C[harles] G[reenstreet] Addison, A Treatise on the Law of Contracts and Rights and Liabilities Ex Contractu, London: W. Benning & Co., →OCLC, page 213:

     In drawing the pleadings, and framing the declaration of the cause of action against a husband, or an executor, in respect of the funeral expenses of the wife or the testator, it must be stated, in order to show a good legal ground of action ex contractu upon the record, that the things furnished were supplied at the request of the husband, or the executors, and a promise to pay for them must be alleged.

   • 1874, Thomas Collett Sandars, The Institutes of Justinian: With English Introduction, Translation and Notes‎^[1], 5th edition, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., →OCLC, page 379:

     The leading distinction between obligations ex contractu and obligations quasi ex contractu is, that in the former one chooses to bind himself to another, in the latter he is placed in such circumstances that he is thereby bound to another.

   • 1936, C[harles] Reinold Noyes, The Institution of Property: A Study of the Development, Substance and Arrangement of the System of Property in Modern Anglo-American Law, New York, N.Y., Toronto, Ont.: Longmans, Green and Co.; London: Humphrey Milford, →OCLC, page 212:

     Obligations quasi ex contractu are those, for the most part, for which a liability is implicit in a relation and is imposed by law, though not created or undertaken by any direct act of the obligor.

Related terms

• ex delicto

Translations

of a legal obligation: arising from a contractual relationship

• Serbo-Croatian: ugovorno (sh), po ugovoru

Adverb

ex contractu (not comparable)

1. (law, postpositive) From a contractual relationship.
   • 1751, Andrew MacDowall Bankton, An Institute of the Laws of Scotland in Civil Rights: With Observations Upon the Agreement or Diversity Between Them and the Laws of England. In Four Books. […], volume I, Edinburgh: Printed by R. Fleming, for A. Kincaid and A[lexander] Donaldson, […], →OCLC, page 104:

     The diviſion of obligations, into thoſe ariſing from a contract, or quaſi ex contractu; from a delict, or quaſi ex delicto, takes place in the law of England [marginal note]. [...] Obligations civil, in a large ſenſe, may be divided into ſuch as ariſe from a contract, or quaſi contract; or from a delinquency and crime, or a quaſi delinquency, as they are termed in the civil law.

   • 1824, Thomas Branch, William Waller Hening, Principia Legis et Æquitatis: Being an Alphabetical Collection of Maxims, Principles or Rules, Definitions, and Memorable Sayings, in Law and Equity; […], 1st American edition, Richmond: T. W. White, →OCLC, page 12:

     Actio personalis moritur cum persona. – A personal action dies with the person. [i.e. An action merely personal, arising ex delicto, for a tort, but not an action arising ex contractu, from contract. [...]]

Related terms

• ex delicto

Translations

from a contractual relationship

Further reading

• ex contractu on Wikipedia.Wikipedia