ise
is absolute, that of the fidejussor may be conditional, though a
conditional promise cannot be absolutely guaranteed, for more and less
is to be understood of time as well as of quantity, immediate payment
being regarded as more, and future payment as less.

6 For the recovery of anything paid by him for the principal the
fidejussor can sue the latter by the action on agency.

7 A fidejussor may be taken in Greek, by using the expressions 'tei
emei pistei keleuo,' 'lego,' 'thelo,' or 'boulomai'; and 'phemi' will be
taken as equivalent to 'lego.'

8 It is to be observed that in the stipulations of fidejussors the
general rule is that whatever is stated in writing to have been done is
taken to have really been done; and, accordingly, it is settled law that
if a man signs his name to a paper stating that he became a fidejussor,
all formalities are presumed to have been duly observed.

TITLE XXI. OF LITERAL OBLIGATION

Formerly there was a kind of obligation made by writing, and said to
be contracted by the entry of a debt in a ledger; but such entries have
nowadays gone out of use. Of course, if a man states in writing that he
owes money which has never been paid over to him, he cannot be allowed,
after a considerable interval, to defend himself by the plea that
the money was not, in fact, advanced; for this is a point which has
frequently been settled by imperial constitutions. The consequence is,
that even at the present day a person who is estopped from this plea is
bound by his written signature, which (even of course where there is no
stipulation) is ground for a condiction. The length of time after
which this defence could not be pleaded was formerly fixed by
imperial constitutions at five years; but it has been reduced by our
constitution, in order to save creditors from a more extended risk of
being defrauded of their money, so that now it cannot be advanced after
the lapse of two years from the date of the alleged payment.

TITLE XXII. OF OBLIGATION BY CONSENT

Obligations contracted by mere consent are exemplified by sale, hire,
partnership and agency, which are called consensual contracts because no
writing, nor the presence of the parties, nor any delivery is required
to make the obligation actionable, but the consent of the parties is
sufficient. Parties who are not present together, therefore, can form
these contracts by letter, for instance, or by messenger: and they are
in their natu