ACCEPTILA´TIO
ACCEPTILA´TIO is a formal mode of extinguishing a
verbal obligation. The debtor says to the creditor, “Quod ego tibi
promisi, habesne acceptum?” and the creditor answers,
“Habeo” (Gai. 3.169); or the form might be, “Accepta
facis decem” (sc. sestertia), answer “Facio” (
Dig. 43,
4,
7). This method of release was not regarded as peculiar to
Romans, but a part of general law (
juris gentium
est), and thus the words might be Greek without impairing the
effect. The term Acceptilatio must have been originally borrowed from
bookkeeping, and in this connexion we find
acceptum (
accepto)
ferre used in
Dig. 21,
2,
4.1; 32, 1, 29.2,
&c.: and in a metaphorical sense, “to credit with,” in
V. Max. 2.7, Ext. 2; 8.2.3; Sen.
Ep. 78.2. But
acceptum facere or
fieri is used in the sense of putting an
end to an obligation in
Cic. Ver. 3.60,
§ 139;
Plin. Ep. 2.4,
6.34; and in the lawyers frequently and
indiscriminately with
acceptum fieri.. For the
declinable
acceptum accepto (dative?) is
sometimes used by the lawyers.
Acceptum
(
accepto)
rogare is used of the debtor who seeks to be freed. The spoken
words constituted an acceptilatio, but a record of the act would, as in
other cases, be written and preserved. An
apocha was what we call a receipt. (See examples in Bruns,
fontes, pt. 2.8.) It was evidence of a
payment, but might be rebutted by proof that the repayment had never
actually taken place. But acceptilatio was a formal release of the
obligation, and operated effectually whether payment had or had not been
received. “Velut solvisse videtur qui acceptilatione solutus
est” (
Dig. 46,
4,
16 and 19). In form an acceptilatio must be
absolute, not conditional, and must release at once, and not at a deferred
date (ib. ss.4,5). It was applicable only to debts contracted by
stipulation; the form of release must strictly follow the form of
obligation, and the parties to the stipulation must (themselves or their
heirs or slaves) be present and parties to the release. But the difficulty
arising from these restrictions was got over by a new stipulation being
entered into referring to the existing obligation, and giving it a new form
suitable to the intended release. [See
NOVATIO] Hence a future debt was converted into a
present one,--a debt due from Titius was converted into one due from his
procurator ; and an obligation arising from a loan or sale, &c., was
stated in a stipulation and verbally promised (
ib.
s. 13.10). The new verbal obligation extinguished the old obligation,
and was in turn itself extinguished by the formal acceptilatio. Gallus
Aquilius invented a formula for reducing the whole liabilities of one party
to another to a single obligation, in order that it might be thus
extinguished. The formula is given in s. 18, Inst. 3.29.2, and is called the
Aquiliana stipulatio.
What is invalid as a release may sometimes take effect as an agreement
(
pactum, s. 19; 2, 14, 27.9). And in other
cases, e. g. of a
donatio mortis causa, or a
gift between husband and wife, the operation of an acceptilatio was
suspended till the death of the donor (
Dig. 39,
6,
24;
24,
1,
32.23). The chief authorities are Gai. 3.169-172 ;
Dig. 46,
4; Inst. 3.29,
§ § 1, 2.
[
H.J.R]