OF CONTRACTS.
Express contracts are those in which the terms of the contract or agreement are openly and fully uttered and avowed at the time of making : as, to pay a stated price for certain specified goods ; to deliver an ox, etc. 2 Blackstone, Comm. 443.
10. Gratuitous contracts are those of which the object is the benefit of the person with whom it is made, without any profit or advantage received or promised as a consideration for it. It is not, however, the less gratuitous if it pro ceed either from gratitude for a benefit belbre received or from the hope of receiving one here after, although such benefit be of a pecuniary nature. La. Civ. Code, 1766.
Hazardous contracts are those in which the performance of that which is one of its objects depends on an uncertain event. La. Civ. Code, art. 1769.
11. Implied contracts are such as reason and justice dictate, and which, therefore, the law presumes that every man' undertakes to perform.
Thus, if I employ a person to do any business for me or perform any work, or take np wares with a tradesman, the law implies that I understood or con tracted to pay the real value of the services or wares. 2 Blackstone, Comm. 443. These contracts form the web and woof of actual life. 1 Parsons, Contr. 4.
There is one species of implied contract which runs through and is annexed to all other contracts, conditions, and covonants,—viz. : that if I fail in my part of the agreement I shall pay the other party such daniages as he has sustained by my neglect or refusal. See QUANTUM METCUIT ; QUANTUM VALE BANT ; ASSIIMPSIT; Comyne, Dig. Action upon the Case upon Aimumpait, A 1, Agreement.
Independent contracts are those in which the mutual acts or promises have no relation to each other either as equivalents or as con siderations. La. Civ. Code, art. 1762. • Mixed contracts are those by 'which one of the parties confers a benefit on the other, re ceiving something of inferior value in return, such as a donation subject to a charge.
Contracts of mutual interest are such as are entered into for the reciprocal interest and utility of each of the parties: as, sales, ex change, partnership, and the like.
12. Onerous contracts are those in which something is given or promised as a consi deration for the engagement or gift, or some service, interest, or condition is imposed on what is given or promised, although unequal to it in value.
Oral contracts are simple contracts.
Principal contracts are those entered into by both parties on their own accounts, or in the several qualities or characters they as sume.
Real contracts are those in which it is neces sary that there should be something more than mere consent, such as a loan of money, deposit, or pledge, which, from their nature, require a delivery of the thing (res).
Reciprocal contracts are those by which the parties expressly enter into mutual engage ments, such as sale, hire, and the like.
Contracts of record are those which are evidenced by matter of record, such as judg ments, recognizances, and statutes staple.
These arc the highestelass of contracts. Statutes merchant and staple, and other securities of the like nature, are confined to England. They are contracts
entered into by the intervention of some public authority, and are witnessed by the highest kind of evidence, viz., matter of record. 4 Blackstone, Comm. 465.
13. Severable (or separable) contracts are those the considerations of which are by their terms susceptible of apportionment or division on either side, so as to correspond to the seve ral parts or portions of the consideration on the other side.
A contract to pay a person the worth of' his ser vices as long as he will do certain work, or so much per week as long as he shall work, or to give a cer tain price per 'bushel for every bushel of so much corn as corresponds to a sample, would be a sever able contract. If the part to be performed by one party consists of several distinct and separate items, and the price to be paid by the other is apportioned to each item to be performed, or is left to be im plied by law, such a contract will generally be held to be severable. So when the price to be paid is clearly and distinctly apportioned to different parts of what is to be performed, although the latter is in its nature single and entire. But the mere fact of sale by weight or measure—i. e. so much per pound or bushel—does not make a contract sever able.
14. Simple contracts are those not of spe cialty or record.
They are the lowest class of express contracts, and answer most nearly to our general definition of contract.
To constitute a sufficient parol agreement to be binding in law, there must be that reciprocal and mutual assent which is necessary to all contracts. And see 17. They are by parol (which includes both oral and written). The only distinction be tween oral and written contracts is in their mode of proof. And it is inaccurate to distinguish verbal from written; for contracts are equally/Trim/ whether the words are written or spoken,—the meaning of verbal being expressed in words. See 3 Burr.1670; 7 Term, 350, note; 11 Mass. 27, 30; 5 id. 299, 301; 7 Conn. 57; 1 Cainea, N. Y. 386.
15. Specialties are those which are under seal: as, deeds and bonds.
Specialties are sometimes said to include also contracts of record, 1 Parsons, Contr. 7; in which case there would be but two classes at common law, via., specialties and simple contracts. The term specialty is always used substantively.
They are the second kind of express contracts under the ordinary common-law division. They are not merely written, hut signed, sealed, and delivered by the party bound. The solemnities connected with these acts, and the formalities of witnessing, gave in early times an importance and character to this class of contracts which implied so much caution and deliberation (consider ation) that it was unnecessary to prove the consi deration even in a court of equity. Plowd. 305 ; 7 Term, 477; 4 Barnew. .t Ad. 652; 3 Bingh. 111; 1 Fonblanque, Eq. 342, note. Though little of the real solemnity now remains (except witnessing), sad a scroll is substituted in most of the states for the seal, the distinction with regard to specialties has still been preserved intact. See CONSIDERA