Dictionary of Greek and Roman antiquities. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

OBLIGATIONES. OCIILOCRATIA. 821
is a pactins sine causa. Sometimes Nuda con. when there was a causa, as a promise made with
ventie is used as equivalent to Nuda pactio. (Dig. reference to a dignity (honor) conferred or to be
15. tit. 5. s. 15.) It is a mistake to say that Pac- conferred. A pollicitatio sine cause was also
tmn by itself means a one-sided contract. Pactum obligattory, if the person began to do what be had
is a term as general as conventio (pactum a pac- promised, as if he laid the foundation of a btildinf
tione - est autenz pactio duorcum plur iuemve in idem or cleared the ground. (See Plin. iEp. x. 48. Huic
placitum consensus, Dig. 2. tit. 14. s. 1), and is a theatro ex privatorume pollieitationibuzs 2mbta adepart of all contracts as conventio is. There might bentur; and v. 12.)
be a Pactuna or Pactio relating to marriage, the A person who vowed anything, was also bound
establishment of a servitus in provincial lands (voto oblicgatus).
(Gaius, ii. 31), and other matters. Batt Pactum (Gaius, iii. 88, &e.; Inst. 3. tit. 12 (13), 4. 6;
as included in the law of Obligationes, obtained a Dig. 47. tit. 7, Cod. 4. tit. 10, De Obligationibus
limited signification; and it was used to signify et Action2ibus; Miihlenbruch, Doctrina Pandecagreements not included among the Contractus, but atuznz, lib. iii. De Obliyationibus. The most cormstill binding agree-neIlts as being founded on some plete work on Roman Obligationes is by Untercausa. A pactumn therefore mnight produce a naturalis holzner, QuellensLsiissiye zuscasmsenstellung dele lekro
obligatio. Some of these pacta were in course of des R6}nlzschen Reehts von den Schsuldverhliltnissen,
tihe made the foundation of an actio civilis, and Leipzig, 1840, 2 vols. 8vo.; see also Thibaut,
some were protected by the Praetor: ait Praetor: Pandektenreelct; Vangerowv Psmedekten, &c.;Puchta,
" Pacta coinventa quae neque dolo malo neque Inst. vol. iii.) [G. L.]
adversus leges plebiscita senatus-consulta edicta O'BOLUS (~oXo's), the smallest of the four
decreta principum neque quo franls cui eorum fiat principal denominations of weight and money
facta erunt servabo." (Dig. 2. tit. 14. s. 7.) The among the Greeks, was 1-6th of the drachma,
parties to a Pactum were said " pacisci.'" Any- 1-600th of the mina, and 1-36,000th of the talent.
thing might be the subject of a "pactum." which As a coin, the obolus was of silver.; and condid not involve an illegality. If an illegal pactunl nected with it, at least in the Attic system, were
was made, it was still illegal, though it had been silver coins weighing respectively 5, 4, 3, 2, 1l
confirmned by a stipulatio or any other form. The obols, and a, 7, and I of an obol; all which are
matter relating to Pacta is not arranged in the found in collections of coins. The 1I obol piece
Digest under the head of Obligationes et Actiones was a quarter of a drachm. The Attic obol was
(Dig. 44. tit. 7), but in the same book with the also divided into 8 (or according to others 10)
titles De Jurisdictione, &c. XaNKo?. (See PONDERA; NuaImIUS; DkACHMA.;
Savigny shows that the notion of Agreement, CHALCUS; and the Tables.) [P. S.]
(vertrag), is too nalTowly conceived by jurists in OBSIDIONA'LIS CORONA. [CORONA.]
general. He defines agreement to be the " union OBSO'NIUM. [OPSONIUM.]
of several persons in one concordant declaration of OCCUPA'TIO. The word is used by Cicero
will whereby their legal relations are determined." (de Off. i. 7) to express the acquisition of ownerConsequently the notion of agreement must be ex- ship by occupation or the taking possession of that.
tended to other things than to contracts which pro- which has no owner, and with the intention of
duce obligationes: for instance Traditio or delivery keeping it as one's own. Among the modes of
is characterized by all the marinks of an agreement; acquiring ownership " naturali ratione," that is, by
and the fact that the declaration of their will by such means as are in all nations acknowledged to
the parties to the traditio, is insufficient to effect be lawful means of acquiring ownership, Gaius (ii.
Traditio without the external act by which pos- 66, &c.) enlumerates the taking possession of those
session is acquired, does not in the least affect the things quae nullius sunt, as animals of the chace,
essence of the agreemleIlt. The imperfect concep- birds and fishes, and such things are said "oction of an agreement has arisen from not separating cupantis fieri." The same applies to the finding of
in some cases the obligatory agreement from those things which have no owner; but there were paracts for which such obligatory agreement is gene- ticular rules as to thesaurus, treasure found in the
rally a preparation and of which it is an accompani- ground. (Inst. 2. tit. 1. s. 39; Dig. 49. tit. 14. s. 3.
ament. This becomes more apparent if we consider ~ 10; and Gaius, ii. 7). The latest legislation about
the case of a gift, which is a real agreement but Thesaurus is in Cod. 10. tit. 15. Things which
without any obligation: it is merely a giving and were lost or thrown out of a ship in case of nereceiving by mutual consent. This general notion cessity were not subject to Occupatio. Things
of agreement is contained in the words of Ulpian taken in war were subject to Occupatio. (Inst. 2.
already quoted, in which he defines Pactio to be tit. 1. s. 17; Dig. 41. tit. 1. de acquisendo srersus
" duorumi pluriumve," &c. It does not seem how- doezinzio.) [G. L.J
ever that the Romans applied the terms Pactio, OCI1LOCRA'TIA (yXotcpanr/a); the dominion
Pactum, and Conventio to any agreements except of the rabble, a name of later origin than the time
those which were the foundation of Obligationes of Aristotle, and applied to that perversion of a
of some kind. (Savigny, System des Hleut. RM;, democracy, in which, through the introduction of
Rceel/ts, iii. ~ 140, &c.) devices for removing or counteracting the natural
Pollicitatio is a proffer or offer on the part of a and wholesome inequalities of society (such as
person who is willing to agree (pollicitiatio ofei:rentis paying citizens for attendance in the popular assolias promeissunm, Dig. 50. tit. 12. s. 3). A pol- sembly and on other occasions on which their
licitatio of course created no obligatio until the civic functions might be exercised, increasing'the:
proffer or offer was accepted. The word is fre- number and restricting the duration anld authority:
quently used with reference to promises made by a of public offic.s), the exercise of aill the highest
person to a state, city, or other body politic, such functions of government came to be practically in
as the promise to erect a building, to exhibit public the hands of a mere faction, consisting of the low —
shows, &c. Such pollicitationes were binding, est and poorest, thought most numerous, class'of
36 3