Real Contract

Real Contract, ^* com. law. By this term are understood contracts in respect to real property. 3 Rawle, 225.

2. In the civil law real contracts are those which require the interposition of thing (rei,) as the subject of them; for instance, the loan for goods to be specifically returned.

3. By that law, contracts are divided into those which are formed by the mere consent of the parties, and therefore are called consensual; such as sale, hiring and mandate, and those in which it is necessary that there should be something more than mere consent, such as the loan of money, deposit or pledge, which, from their nature, require the delivery of the thing; whence they are called real. Poth. Obl. p. 1, c. 1, s. 1, art. 2.

^* From Bouvier's Law Dictionary, 1856 Edition. Please see Bouvier's Legal Abbreviations & Abbreviated References for help with obscure nomenclature & references.