Consideration v Causa in Roman-American Law

Authors

Joseph H. Drake, University of Michigan Law School

Abstract

In the case of Mtembre v. Webster, decided recently (19o4) in the Supreme Court of Cape Colony, South Africa, the court (De VILLIERS, J.) says that the causa of Roman-Dutch Law* (oorsaak-German Ursache) has become for all practical purposes equivalent to the valuable consideration of the Common Law., The court says further, 'I can not find that in practice any gratuitous promises except donations-as to which there are especial rules were ever enforced by law.' Sir Frederick Pollock in commenting on this case says, "The power of the Common Law to impose its conceptions on foreign systems when opportunities occur deserves more attention than it has yet received from comparative jurists." The contact of Spanish-Roman Law with the Common Law here in America has been very similar to that of the Dutch-Roman Law with the Common Law in South Africa, and the question naturally arises whether this victory of consideration over causa in South Africa will be duplicated in our Porto Rican courts.

Recommended Citation

Joseph H. Drake, Consideration v Causa in Roman-American Law, 4 Mich. L. Rev. 19 (1905).
Available at: https://repository.law.umich.edu/mlr/vol4/iss1/2