ment of another thing from you? It is now settled that this is not
a contract of hire, but a kind of contract apart by itself. Thus, if
a man had one ox, and his neighbour another, and they agreed that each
should in turn lend the other his ox for ten days to make use of, and
then one of the oxen died while working for the man to whom it did not
belong, an action cannot be brought on hire, nor on a loan for use, for
a loan for use ought to be gratuitous: but an action should be brought
as on an innominate contract.

3 So nearly akin, indeed, is purchase and sale, to letting and hiring,
that in some cases it is a question to which class of the two a contract
belongs. As an instance may be taken those lands which are delivered
over to be enjoyed for ever, upon the terms, that is to say, that so
long as the rent is paid to the owner it shall not be lawful for the
latter to take the lands away from either the original hirer, or his
heir, or any one else to whom he or his heirs has conveyed them by sale,
gift, dowry, or in any other way whatsoever. The questionings of the
earlier lawyers, some of whom thought this kind of contract a hiring,
and others a sale, occasioned the enactment of the statute of Zeno,
which determined that this contract of emphyteusis, as it is called, was
of a peculiar nature, and should not be included under either hire or
sale, but should rest on the terms of the agreement in each particular
case: so that if anything were agreed upon between the parties, this
should bind them exactly as if it were inherent in the very nature of
the contract; while if they did not agree expressly at whose risk the
land should be, it should be at that of the owner in case of total
destruction, and at that of the tenant, if the injury were merely
partial. And these rules we have adopted in our legislation.

4 Again, if a goldsmith agrees to make Titius rings of a certain weight
and pattern out of his own gold for, say, ten aurei, it is a question
whether the contract is purchase and sale or letting and hiring. Cassius
says the material is bought and sold, the labour let and hired; but it
is now settled that there is only a purchase and sale. But if Titius
provided the gold, and agreed to pay him for his work, the contract is
clearly a letting and hiring.

5 The hirer ought to observe all the terms of the contract, and in the
absence of express agreement his obligations should be ascertained by
reference to what is fa