# Pacta sunt servanda rebus sic stantibus



## piraña utria

Hi everyone:

Talking in legal terms, there’s a very basic principle about the commitment or duty of people who signed or celebrated a legal act, mostly contract, generally named simply as “pacta sunt servanda”.

However, I’ve heard previously that "pacta sunt servanda" is just a part of a larger expression. Dou you know it, I mean the larger one? Which its meaning? 

Regards,


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## Hamlet2508

piraña utria said:


> Hi  everyone:
> 
> Talking in legal terms, there’s a very basic principle about the commitment or duty of people who signed or celebrated a legal act, mostly contract, generally named simply as “pacta sunt servanda”.
> 
> I’ve red previously this is just a part of a larger expression. Dou you know it, I mean the larger one? Which its meaning?
> 
> Regards,



I'm not quite clear on what you actually want to know
but
*Pacta sunt servanda* is based on good faith, *bona fide*, which is the mental and moral state of honesty, conviction as to the truth or falsehood of a proposition,etc. 
It is a a *Brocard*, a basic principle of civil law and of international law.
The only limit to pacta sunt servanda is *ius cogens. *
regards,
Hamlet

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacta_sunt_servanda
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bona_fide


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## relativamente

Pacta sunt servanda is a principle of international law by itself, but you know, the States have no authority over themselves as you and me have, so sometimes thet say before the Courts that "pacta sunt servanda rebus sic stantibus" provided things are not too canged from moment the treaty was signed.


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## Kevin Beach

*Pacta sunt servanda rebus sic stantibus* is a principle of International Law. 

It means: "Agreements [i.e. inter-state Treaties, in International Law] will be observed so long as the conditions under which they were made remain the same".


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## piraña utria

Kevin Beach said:


> *Pacta sunt servanda rebus sic stantibus* is a principle of International Law.
> 
> It means: "Agreements [i.e. inter-state Treaties, in International Law] will be observed so long as the conditions under which they were made remain the same".


 
Hi Kevin.

I know the meaning of it, but I've heard before (correct me if I'm wrong), that this expression is a part of another bigger (maybe extracted from the _Digesto)._

It could be this "*Pacta sunt servanda rebus sic stantibus"? or talking in simpler words, "pacta sunt servanda" or "pacta sunt servanda rebius sic stantibus" has a whole sense in Latin far more than the meaning of it as very-known law's principle?*

*Regards,*


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## Kevin Beach

piraña utria said:


> Hi Kevin.
> 
> I know the meaning of it, but I've heard before (correct me if I'm wrong), that this expression is a part of another bigger (maybe extracted from the _Digesto)._
> 
> Which could be this "*Pacta sunt servanda rebus sic stantibus"? or talking in simpler words, "pacta sunt servanda" or "pacta sunt servanda rebius sic stantibus" has a whole sense in Latin far more than the meaning of it as very-known law's principle?*
> 
> *Regards,*


The words that I quoted are the full saying.

I think they started as a Roman Law principle and I doubt that they had any usage outside of the law. Roman Law developed over the thousand year period from about 500 BC to AD 500 and is a field of study all on its own.


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## piraña utria

Ok Kevin, I've got it.

Thanks a lot,


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## sfederico

All contract law is derived from Roman civil law. English common law has used Roman civil and canon (church) law to organize its civil (as opposed to criminal) law. In doing so, the English neglected some components of the Roman civil law. For many centuries, English civil law was following the legal principle of "pacta sunt veneranda". This phrase is translated as pacts (agreements) are to (must) be honored. The English, however, neglected to copy and follow the second part of the Roman civil law principle, to wit, "rebus sic stantibus". This second part of the principle is translated as " things remaining the same". Therefore, the entire principle means that agreements made between or among persons (including statutorily created entities) must be honored, i.e. have the enforceability principled supported and mandated by the the police powers of the state. In conclusion, if the circumstances under which an agreement is entered change substantially, i.e. to such an extent that the original intent of both sides of the contract is no longer supported, then the agreement must be modiefied or annulled.


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## Kevin Beach

sfederico said:


> All contract law is derived from Roman civil law. English common law has used Roman civil and canon (church) law to organize its civil (as opposed to criminal) law. In doing so, the English neglected some components of the Roman civil law. For many centuries, English civil law was following the legal principle of "pacta sunt veneranda". This phrase is translated as pacts (agreements) are to (must) be honored. The English, however, neglected to copy and follow the second part of the Roman civil law principle, to wit, "rebus sic stantibus". This second part of the principle is translated as " things remaining the same". Therefore, the entire principle means that agreements made between or among persons (including statutorily created entities) must be honored, i.e. have the enforceability principled supported and mandated by the the police powers of the state. In conclusion, if the circumstances under which an agreement is entered change substantially, i.e. to such an extent that the original intent of both sides of the contract is no longer supported, then the agreement must be modiefied or annulled.


I'm sorry, sfederico, but English contract law, like the rest of the English Common Law, was specifically _not_  based on Roman Law. It developed independently and separately. Its roots pre-date the adoption of Roman Law by other European countries (including Scotland)  in the late medieval period. Indeed, it is one of the major distinctions between national legal systems that some countries' laws are based on Roman (i.e. Civil) Law, while others (usually former British colonies) are based on English Common Law.

The principle _Pacta sunt servanda rebus sic stantibus_ has never had any place in English contract law.


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## sfederico

Dear Kevin,
You should not be sorry. You should be happy. The Uniform Commercial Code (UCC), adopted in various various by all US States, is one of the latest codifications of Roman civil law, especially as it relates to contract law. 
The UCC is replete with all the fundamental principles of Roman civil law, not excluding the court's authorization, under the UCC, to form a contract where there was no written contract, and to modify the contract where it turns out to be contrary to parties' intent. In addition, the UCC's concepts are reflective of well established and accepted international contract law.


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## piraña utria

Hello, guys.

I am not used to read Common Law documents. However, concerning Kevin’s assertion I have found quite tempting to bring this extract, which I have taken from _The Common Law_ by Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. available via Google in Project Gutenberg’s website:

_ "...which led Glanvill and his __successors to apply the terminology of the civilians to __common-law debts. But whether he borrowed it from the __ecclesiastical courts, or went directly to the fountain-head, __certain it is that Glanvill makes use of the classification and __technical language of the Corpus Juris throughout his tenth book"_

I am surely sailing through unknown seas, but as far as I have understood Holmes’ thesis remarks not only in these lines but in its subsecuent ones, a noticeable influence from Roman Law in Common Law since the Middle Ages. 

It would be exciting to read your always interesting-and-profound explanations, Kevin.


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## sfederico

Thank you for your participation Piraña Utria.

The UCC (Uniform Commercial Code) is actually a re-write, modernized codification of commercial law which incorporates, to a large extent, components of maritime law (developed during the High Middle Ages and Renaissance by the Italian City States as then codified in the so-called Amalfi Tablets). The English Common Law, as adopted in the US courts was modified to reflect the Roman Civil Law principles not only in contract law, but also in all other aspects of applicable to civic interactions. Common Law, with its very antiquated and crude concept of "stare decisis" was simply too "barbaric" in its blind application and contorted deformations to meet the specific circumstances of the specific facts. The concept of "stare decisis" was mollified by the application of the Roman Civil Law principle of "equity". This concept allows the court to circumnavigate the black and white harshness of the law and tame it by authorizing the court to use its "conscience" in reaching an "equitable", fair and reasonable decision.  Roman Civil Law has universally applicable principles of the proper way inwhich to conduct human interactions and relationships, and not applicable only today and to these or those parties.


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