Definition
An action of Roman civil law available to the owner or lessor (the *locator*) who let property or services for hire, brought against the hirer (*conductor*) to recover for damage to the hired thing, non-payment of hire, or other breach of the letting agreement. The action arose from the contract of *locatio conductio* — the Roman law of hire — and gave the lessor a remedy when the hirer failed to return the property in proper condition, failed to pay the agreed price, or otherwise violated the terms of the arrangement.
Common Confusion
ACTIO EX LOCATO / ACTIO EX CONDUCTO: These are the paired remedies arising from the same contract of hire. Actio ex locato belonged to the lessor (the party who let the thing). Actio ex conducto belonged to the hirer (the party who took the thing). Historical sources sometimes cite *actio locati* and *actio conducti* as the equivalent short forms. Researchers encountering either set of names in a source should confirm which party is bringing the action before drawing conclusions about the legal posture of the dispute.
Why It Matters in Research
This term appears almost exclusively in materials engaging with Roman law sources, civilian tradition, or early Anglo-American scholarship that imported Roman categories. Researchers encountering it in 19th-century American or English legal texts are typically reading an author trained in the civilian tradition or drawing on Roman law analogies to explain common law bailment or lease doctrine.
The term does not appear in modern American or English case law as a live cause of action. Its research value is historical and comparative: it marks the Roman-law ancestor of what common law would develop into actions on bailment, lease, and — in some treatments — early forms of contract for services.
Pay attention to whether a source distinguishes between the letting of a thing (*locatio rei*), the letting of services (*locatio operarum*), and the letting of a work or result (*locatio operis faciendi*). These three subtypes of *locatio conductio* generated distinct obligations and different practical applications of the actio ex locato, but historical English-language legal dictionaries often collapse the distinction. A researcher working with primary Roman sources (Digest 19.2, Code 4.65) will find the treatment considerably more granular than anything in Black's or Bouvier's.
The Digest and Code citations given in Black's and Burrill's are genuine and resolvable: Digest 19.2 (*De locatione et conductione*) is the principal title. Researchers with access to the Corpus Juris Civilis can trace the classical juristic writing on this action directly.
Historical Dictionary Support
The three source dictionaries agree on essentials: this is a civil law action, it belongs to the lessor, and it runs against the hirer. Burrill adds the technical party designations (*locator* and *conductor*) that Black's omits, which is useful for researchers navigating Roman law terminology. Bouvier frames the action narrowly — "for any damage to the thing hired" — while Black's and Burrill's use the broader phrase "action upon letting," which more accurately reflects that the action covered the full range of the lessor's claims under the hire contract, not only physical damage.
None of the three source dictionaries address the three-part subdivision of *locatio conductio* (rei, operarum, operis), which is a meaningful omission for anyone using these entries as a gateway to Roman law research. Hunter's *Roman Law* (cited by Bouvier) covers the taxonomy in more depth and is the more reliable guide for substantive research into the action's scope.
Jurisdictional Note
This action belongs to Roman civil law and has no direct procedural counterpart in common law jurisdictions. Louisiana, Quebec, and other mixed or civilian jurisdictions may invoke Roman law principles in construing lease and hire obligations, but the actio ex locato as a named form of action does not appear in modern pleading.
Encyclopedia Cross-Reference
See Law Mind Encyclopedia: Locatio Conductio; Bailment (Historical Development); Roman Law in Anglo-American Jurisprudence.