ARRA
ARRA,
ARRABO, an earnest. The word
arrâbo is Hebrew, and occurs (
ἀρραβὼν,, LXX.) in Gen. 38.17-20, of a ring,
bracelets, and staff given as a pledge for the price, and the corresponding
verb in Hebrew several times.
Ἀρρβὼν is
also in Paul (2 Cor. 1.22, 5.5; Eph. 1.14). The Phoenician traders probably
brought word and custom to Greece, and Plautus probably followed in this his
Greek original (cf. Menand.
Fr. inc. 223, Meineke). He uses
the word for anything given as sign of a bargain being made and as pledge of
its fulfilment. In
Most. 648, part (one-third)
of the price is called
arrabo, and in 978
pignus. In
Mil. 957, the
arrabo is a ring. In
Rud. 46, 555,
True. 689,
Poen. 1342, the thing is not specified. In Ter.
Haut. 603, and Claud. Quadr. ap.
Gel. 17.2.21, persons form the arrabo. Varro (
L.
L. 5.175) speaks of the arrabo as part payment. Excepting in the
Plautus-loving Apuleius (
Met. 1.20), the word is only found
in early Latin.
Pliny and the lawyers use only the form
arra, which
according to Gellius,
l.c., was used by the old
Romans and Laberius. He calls both words vulgar. In the Code, the plural
arrae is used always, except 4.45, 1. 2.
In D. 14. 3, 5.15, and 19. 1, 11.6, a ring is mentioned as given
arrae nomine by a purchaser to bind the bargain;
Ulpian (D. 19. 5, 17.5) speaks of rings deposited in a wager (
sponsionis causa) and deliverable to the winner.
Hence Pliny (
Plin. Nat. 33.28), in
speaking of a custom among common people of producing a ring
ad sponsiones, is referring probably to wagers, not
to betrothals. But, no doubt, the ring used in a betrothal was only the
ordinary mark and pledge of a bargain. The original idea seems to have been
a temporary deposit reclaimable on the bargain being fulfilled. The thing
thus serving as
arra ( “earnest;”
“erles penny,” North Country English), given on hiring a
servant--“Queen's shilling” in enlisting recruits
(
Handgeld, Gottesheller, Weinkauf, Germany)--might be a
mere token or a pledge of some value, as a ring or a piece of money, or
might pass into part payment of the price or part delivery of the thing
purchased, and, according to any special agreement or custom, might be
forfeitable by the party not carrying out his bargain, such forfeit being in
lieu of or in addition to other remedies for breach of contract. According
to Roman law, an arra was only a proof of a bargain having been made, and
not a necessary condition (Gai. 3.139; D. 18. 1, 35, pr.). On the bargain
being fulfilled, its return could be enforced either by an action on its
purchase, or by a
condictio sine causa (D. 19.
1, 11.6; Cod. 4.45, 2). In sales with a forfeiture clause (see
COMMISSUM), default on the
part of the purchaser gave the seller the right of retaining the arra, if he
declared the sale null (D. 18. 3, 6; cf. ib. 8; Cod. 4.54, 1). Justinian
ordained that when an earnest was given to secure the making of a purchase
(
super facienda emptione), the purchaser,
if he declined to complete, should forfeit the earnest; the seller, if he
declined, should repay the earnest and as much again: and this, whether the
contract was intended to be in writing or not, and though no special
agreement had been made as to what was to be done with the earnest money
(Cod. 4.21, 17.2; Inst. 3.23, pr. See Savigny,
Oblig.
§ 79; Maynz,
Cours, § 259).
Arrae, sometimes
arrae sponsaliciae,
is used of gifts by the man to the intended wife before marriage as evidence
of betrothal (D. 23. 2, 38; Cod. 5.1, 3; 2, 5; 1; 8,. 1.1). And a ring is
mentioned in a similar connexion (D. 24. 1, 36.1). A previous constitution,
that women declining to fulfil their engagement should repay the amount
fourfold (cf. Cod. Th. 3.5, 11), was altered by a constitution of A.D. 472,
and only simple or twofold restitution, according to circumstances, was
required (Cod. 5.1, 5). If either party died without having made default in
the agreement to marry, the
arrae were returned
(Cod. 5.1, 3).
[
H.J.R]
