{"id":3942,"date":"2017-08-05T18:15:28","date_gmt":"2017-08-05T18:15:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/reunitethestates.org\/?page_id=3942"},"modified":"2018-01-05T19:31:54","modified_gmt":"2018-01-05T19:31:54","slug":"general-assumpsit","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/reunitethestates.org\/?page_id=3942","title":{"rendered":"General Assumpsit – Breach of (non-written) Promise or Agreement"},"content":{"rendered":"

general assumpsit<\/span>:
\n<\/strong><\/span>(18c.)<\/span><\/p>\n

1<\/strong>. An action based on the defendant’s breach of an implied promise to pay a debt to the plaintiff. <\/strong>\u2014 aka common assumpsit<\/em><\/strong><\/span>; indebitatus assumpsit<\/em><\/strong><\/span>. [1]<\/span><\/p>\n

1. Assumpsit in the common courts: indebitatus assumpsit, quantum meruit, quantum money paid, and insimul computassent or count on account states.\u00a0 1 Am J2d Actions \u00a7 13<\/span>.<\/strong> [2]<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0 Excerpt from Benjamin J. Shipman’s Handbook of Common-Law Pleading<\/em><\/a> (Henry Winthrop Ballantine ed., 3d. 1923):<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cGeneral assumpsit is brought for breach of a fictitious or implied promise raised by law from a debt founded upon an executed consideration. The basis of the action is the promise implied by law from the performance of the consideration, or from a debt or legal duty resting upon the defendant.<\/span>\u201d <\/strong>[3]<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0 Excerpt from Charles Herman Kinnane’s A First Book of Anglo-American Law<\/em><\/a> (2d ed. 1952):<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201c[T]he word ‘assumpsit’ suggest[s] the making of a promise. While that is true in the case of the action of special assumpsit, the promise alleged in the action of general assumpsit was only a fiction. Accordingly in the latter action, the work ‘assumpsit’ no more means that an obligation exists as the result of making a contract, than that a contract is involved because the obligation is described as quasi-contractual.<\/span>\u201d <\/strong>[4]<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

References:<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Disclaimer:<\/span><\/span><\/strong> All material throughout this website is compiled in accordance with Fair Use<\/a><\/span><\/strong>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

[1]: Black\u2019s Law Dictionary\u00a0Deluxe Tenth Edition\u00a0by Henry Campbell Black & Editor in Chief Bryan A. Garner<\/a>. ISBN: 978-0-314-62130-6<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

[2]: Ballantine\u2019s Law Dictionary\u00a0<\/a><\/span><\/strong>with Pronunciations
\n<\/span><\/em>Third Edition<\/span><\/strong><\/a>\u00a0by James A. Ballantine\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>(James Arthur 1871-1949).\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/em>Edited by William S. Anderson.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a9 1969 by THE LAWYER\u2019S CO-OPERATIVE PUBLISHING COMPANY.\u00a0 Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 68-30931<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

[3]: Benjamin J. Shipman, Handbook of Common-Law Pleading<\/em><\/a> \u00a7 59, t 153 (Henry Winthrop Ballantine ed., 3d. 1923)<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

[4]: Charles Herman Kinnane, A First Book of Anglo-American Law<\/em><\/a> 633-34 (2d ed. 1952)<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

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