A

TREATISE

ON

CONTRACTS.

CHAPTER I.

SECTION I.-Of the Different Kinds of Contracts, and of the Nature and Common Law Requisites in general

of a Contract not under Seal.

SECTION II.-Of the Form and Construction of a Contract not under Seal.

SECTION III.-Of Stamping Agreements.

SECTION I.

Of the Different Kinds of Contracts.

THE term Obligation is used by the Roman jurists, and by Pothier, in the preliminary article to his Treatise on Obligations, as denoting in its proper and confined sense every legal tie which imposes a necessity of doing or abstaining from doing any act; and as distinguished from imperfect obligations, such as charity and gratitude, which impose a general duty, but do not confer a particular right, and from natural obligations, which have a definite object, and are binding in conscience, but afford no legal remedy. English lawyers generally use the word obligation, in reference to agreements, in a more strict and technical sense,namely, as importing only a particular species of Contracts, that is, Bonds (a); and they adopt the term "Contract" when they wish to convey a more extensive idea of a legal responsibility

(a) Co. Lit. 172 a. See Bro. Abr., Roll. Abr., and Bac. Abr., tit. Obliga

B

tion. In Com. Dig., Bonds are treated of under the head Fait.