Illegal Consideration

A contract induced by an illegal consideration (injusta or turpis causa) was not enforceable, even though the thing promised was itself lawful. The illegality of the consideration could be pleaded as a defense (Hunter, 598).

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Release

Releases were either formal or informal. The formal release belonged to the Jus Civile and the informal release to the praetorian law. It was a principle of the Jus Civile that a debtor could be released from his obligation only by a proceeding analogous to that by which he had bound himself. According to the older law, even payment or performance (which was sufficient under the praetorian law) did not discharge the debt unless the payment or performance was in due legal form. To constitute legal payment or performance, there must be not only the actual satisfaction of the creditor, but such satisfaction must be expressed in legal form. The actual payment or performance had to be accompanied by the formal legal discharge of the debtor. (Compare the old rule of the English law that a bond, an obligation under seal, could be discharged only by a release under seal.) At a time when a contract derived its legal force from the observance of a form, it was not unreasonable tha...
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The Two Kinds of Marriage

As early as the Twelve Tables there were two forms of marriage : marriage with manus and marriage without manus. The former was known as a "strict" marriage (justed nuptia). It was an institution of the Jus Civile, and could be contracted in any one of several modes to be presently described. This form of marriage was open only to Roman citizens. The other form of marriage, which was known as a "free" marriage, was an institution of the Jus Gentium, and was therefore open to citizens and non-citizens alike. It was contracted in an informal manner.
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Innominate Real Contracts or Nameless Contracts

In addition to the four named real contracts just discussed, another class of contracts also considered as real contracts became actionable at a later period, to which the Romans gave no name but which are now known as innominate or nameless real contracts, or simply nameless contracts. They consisted essentially in the exchange of performance and counter-performance. The principle upon which they were enforced was that wherever there were mutual promises of performance and one party had done what he had agreed to do, he had the right, on the ground of such performance, to exact performance by the other party of his part of the agreement. The mere exchange of mutual promises did not give rise to any legal obligation. Except in the case of the four so called consensual contracts, the Romans did not recognize contracts based upon mere agreement, or the exchange of promise for promise. It was only when one party had performed his promise that he had any right of action ...
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