Mandate (Mandatum)

Mandate (mandatum) was a contract by which one person mandatarius agreed to do something gratuitously at the request of another mandator, who, on his part, agreed to save him harmless from all loss in so doing. The mandator was said to give the mandatory a mandate, or commission to do the act in question. The term mandatum is sometimes translated "agency", but this translation is misleading. The mandatory is not properly described as an agent.

Mandate was the only gratuitous consensual contract; the others, sale, hiring, and partnership, all being founded upon a consideration. Like the others, it was a bona fidei negotium, and bound the parties to do all that was required by good faith. It was of the essence of the contract of mandate that the mandatory should act gratuitously. But while this was true in a strict legal sense, it was allowed to agree upon a sum to be paid as a honorium, or salary, which might be recovered only by a special action and not by the regular action on the contract of mandate.

Illegal Mandate. A mandate to commit an unlawful act, as to steal or injure the person or property of another, created no legal obligation, and the mandatary could not recover from the mandator even if he performed the act and had to pay a penalty therefor.

Note. The contract of mandate has no counterpart in English law. The English mandate is a bailment of goods, to be carried from place to place, or to have some act performed about them, without reward. This would be merely a special form of Roman mandate. The mandate in some respects resembles agency, but a mandatary did not bring his mandator into direct relations with third persons as an agent does his principal.

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Curators

By the Roman law a male became of age for all purposes upon reaching the age of puberty. Females, at least under the older law, never attained full legal capacity. Plainly, however, a law which gave to a boy of fourteen full power to manage his own affairs was unsafe for him, and modifications were introduced from time to time for his protection. By an early law of uncertain date passed for the relief of minors (le.r Plcetoria), they were permitted to apply to the prsetor for the appointment of a form of guardian known as a curator, who would be appointed on proof of the minor's incapacity to manage his own affairs. And in time it became the rule for magistrates to appoint a curator upon the minor's application. But a minor above the age of puberty could not be compelled to have a curator, except when, on being sued, he neglected or refused to apply for a curator, in which case a curator would be appointed on petition of the plaintiff to defend the suit. The du
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Rights and Duties of Partners as to Third Persons

A partnership had in Romafi law no existence as to third persons. It could not act, hold property, nor render itself liable. Third persons knew the partners only as individuals. There was, therefore, no Roman law of the relationship of partners and third persons, a subject which figures so largely in the English law of partnership. The reason for this striking difference between the Roman and the English law doubtless lay in the fact that the doctrine of agency was practically unknown in Roman law, and hence one partner could not act so as to bind his copartner or the partnership. All his dealings with third persons were his acts as an individual.
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Pignus (Pledge)

Pignus was a contract in which a debtor delivered a thing to his creditor as security for the debt. The delivery of the property gave rise to the obhgation on the part of the pledgee to return it upon the payment of the debt. This was a ri^ht of the pledgor against the pledgee personally (in personam), and the pignus belonged to the law of contracts only in respect of this personal obligation. The creditor had also certain real rights in the thing pledged, and in this respect the pignus was an important step in the law of mortgage. The contract of pignus was a bona fidei negotinm. The contract was for the benefit of both parties, of the pledgor (debtor) because he thereby obtained credit, of the pledgee (creditor) because he obtained security. Hence both parties were responsible for the highest care (omnis diligentia) . The pledgee was bound to return the property upon payment of the debt, or, in case he exercised the right of sale (which he might do if the debt was no
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