to give it; but it would be iniquitous that you should be
compelled to fulfil such an engagement, and therefore you are permitted
to defend yourself by the exception that the money, in point of fact,
was never advanced. The time within which this exception can be pleaded,
as we remarked in a former Book, has been shortened by our constitution.

3 Again, if a creditor agrees with his debtor not to sue for a debt, the
latter still remains bound, because an obligation cannot be extinguished
by a bare agreement; accordingly, the creditor can validly bring against
him a personal action claiming payment of the debt, though, as it would
be inequitable that he should be condemned in the face of the agreement
not to sue, he may defend himself by pleading such agreement in the form
of an exception.

4 Similarly, if at his creditor's challenge a debtor affirms on oath
that he is not under an obligation to convey, he still remains bound;
but as it would be unfair to examine whether he has perjured himself,
he can, on being sued, set up the defence that he has sworn to the
nonexistence of the debt. In real actions, too, exceptions are equally
necessary; thus, if on the plaintiff's challenge the defendant swears
that the property is his, there is nothing to prevent the former
from persisting in his action; but it would be unfair to condemn the
defendant, even though the plaintiff's contention that the property is
his be well founded.

5 Again, an obligation still subsists even after judgement in an action,
real or personal, in which you have been defendent, so that in strict
law you may be sued again on the same ground of action; but you can
effectually meet the claim by pleading the previous judgement.

6 These examples will have been sufficient to illustrate our meaning;
the multitude and variety of the cases in which exceptions are necessary
may be learnt by reference to the larger work of the Digest or Pandects.

7 Some exceptions derive their force from statutes or enactments
equivalent to statutes, others from the jurisdiction of the praetor;

8 and some are said to be perpetual or peremptory, others to be
temporary or dilatory.

9 Perpetual or peremptory exceptions are obstructions of unlimited
duration, which practically destroy the plaintiff's ground of action,
such as the exceptions of fraud, intimidation, and agreement never to
sue.

10 Temporary or dilatory exceptions are merely temporary obstructions,
their only