Contracts Commons^™

Consideration V Causa In Roman-American Law, Joseph H. Drake

Michigan Law Review

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 …