AGREEMENT

A concord of under- standing and intention, between two or more parties, with respect to the effect upon their relative rights and duties, of certain past or future facts or performances. The act of two or more persons, who unite in expressing a mutual and common purpose, with the view of altering their rights and obligations. A coming together of parties in opinion or determination; the union of two or more minds in a thing done or to be done; a mut- ual assent to do a thing. Com. Dig. "Agree- ment," A 1. The consent of two or more persons con- curring, the one in parting with, the other in receiving, some property, right, or benefit. Bac. Abr. A promise, or undertaking. This is a loose and incorrect sense of the word. 5 East, 11. See 3 Brod. & B. 14; 3 N. Y. 335. The writing or instrument which is evi- dence of an agreement. Agreements are of the following several descriptions, viz.: Conditional agreements, the operation and effect of which depend upon the existence of a supposed state of facts, or the performance of a condition, or the happening of a contin- gency. Executed agreements, which have reference to past events, or which are at once closed and where nothing further remains to be done by the parties. Executory agreements are such as are to be performed in the future. They are commonly preliminary to other more formal or important contracts or deeds, and are usually evidenced by memoranda, parol promises, etc. Express agreements are those in which the terms and stipulations are specifically de- clared and avowed by the parties at the time of making the agreement.

A coming together of parties in opinion or determination; the union of two or more minds in a thing done or to be done; a mutual assent to do a thing. Comyn, Dig. Agreement, A1; Plowd. 5a, 6 a. Aggregatio mentium.-When two or more minds are united in a thing done or to be done. It ought to be so certain and complete that either party may have an action on it, and there must be a quid pro quo; Dane, Abr. c. 11. The consent of two or more persons con- curring, the one in parting with, the other in receiving, some property, right, or bene- fit; Bacon, Abr. An act in the law where- by two or more persons declare their assent as to any act or thing to be done or forborne by some or one of those persons for the use of the others or other of them. Poll. Contr. 2. "The expression by two or more persons of a common intention to affect the legal relations of those persons; " Anson, Contr. 8. An agreement "consists of two persons being of the same mind, intention, or mean- ing concerning the matter agreed upon;" Leake, Contr. 12. See Poll. Contr. 2, 3. "Agreement" is seldom applied to specialties; "contract" is generally confined to simple con- tracts; and "promise" refers to the engagement of & party without reference to the reasons or consid- erations for it, or the duties of other parties; Pars. Contr. 6. An agreement ceases to be such by being put in writing under seal, but not when put in writing for a memorandum; Dane, Abr. c. 11. It is a wider term than "contract;" Anson, Contr. 4; an agreement might not be a contract, because not fulfilling some requirement of the law of the place in which it is made. A promise or undertaking. This is the loose and inaccurate use of the word; 5 East 10; 8 B. & Β. 14; 8 Ν. Υ. 835. The writing or instrument which is evi- dence of an agreement. This is a loose and evidently inaccurate use of the term. The agreement may be valid, and yet the written evidence thereof insufficient; as, if a pro- missory note be given for twenty dollars, the amount of a previous debt, where the note may gen- erally be neglected an lected and the debt collected by means of other evidence; or, again, if a note good in form be given for an illegal consideration, in which case the instrument is good and the agreement void. Conditional dgreements are those which are to have full effect only in case of the happening of certain events, or the exist- ence of a given state of things. Executed agreements are those where nothing further remains to be done by the parties. Executed agreements take place when two or more persons make over their respect- ive rights in a thing to one another, and thereby change their property therein either presently and at once, or at a future time upon some event that shall give it full effect without either party trusting to the other. Such an agreement exists where a thing is bought, paid for, and delivered. Executory agreements are such as rest on articles, memorandums, parol promises or undertakings, and the like, to be performed in the future, or which are entered into pre- paratory to more solemn and formal aliena- tions of property; Powell, Contr. An executed agreement always conveys a chose in possession, while an executory one conveys a chose in action only. Express agreements are those in which the terms are openly uttered and avowed by the parties at the time of making. Implied agreements are those which the law supposes the parties to have made al- though the terms were not openly expressed. Thus, every one who undertakes any office, em ployment, or duty impliedly contracts to do it with Integrity, diligence, and skill; and he impliedly con tracta to do whatever is fairly within the scope of his employment; 6 Scott 761. Implied promises, or promises in law, only exist where there is no express stipulation between the parties touching the same matter for expressum facit cessare tacitum: 2 Bla. Com. 444: 2 Term 105; 7 Scott 60; 1 N. & P. 633. The parties must agree or assent. There must be a definite promise by one party accepted by the other; 3 Johns. 534; 12 id. 190;9 Ala. 69: 29 Ala. N. s. 864; 4 R. I. 14: 2 Dutch. 268; 3 Halst. 147; 29 Pa. 358; 49 Ill. App. 141. There must be a commun- ication of assent by the party accepting; a mere mental assent to the terms in his own mind is not enough; L. R. 2 App. Ca. 691. See 102 Mo. 309. But the assent need not be formally made; it can be inferred from the party's acts; L. R. 6 Q. B. 607; L. R. 10 C. P. 307; 90 Ala. 529. They must assent to the same thing in the same sense; 4 Wheat. 225; 1 Sumn. 218; 2 Woodb. & M. 359; 7 Johns. 240; 18 Ala. 605; 9 M. & W. 535; 4 Bing. 660; L. R. 6 Q. B. 597. The assent must be mutual and obligatory; there must be a request on one side, and an assent on the other; 5 Bingh. N. C. 75; 150 Mass. 248. Where there is a misunderstand- ing as to the date of performance there is no contract, for want of mutual assent; 42 La. Ann. 107; or where there is a misunder- standing as to the manner of payment;

(41) AGISTERS, or GIST TAKERS.-Officers appointed to look after cattle, &c. See Wms. Comm. 232. AGREE IN NATURE AND QUALITY, (appurtenances). 8 Barn. & C. 145. AGREE TO LET, (in an instrument). 103 Mass. 371; 14 Ves. 155; 12 East 169. AGREE TO RENT OR TO LEASE, (in a writing). 102 Mass. 394. AGREE TO SELL, (in an agreement). 104 Mass. - FRENCH: agrément; LATIN: agreamentum. 1. In general. - Agreement, in its widest sense, is where two or more persons concur in expressing a common intention with the view of altering their rights and duties. (See 3 Sav. Syst. 309; Poll. Cont. 2.) Agreement is "aggregatio mentium, or the union of two or more minds in a thing done or to be done." (1) Com. Dig. 311; 5 East 10; 2 Sm. Lead. Cas. 241.) An agreement of this kind has no legal effect when existing by itself, but is an essential part of every true contract, gift, payment, conveyance and compromise, and of every voluntary variation or discharge of a contract or other AGRARIUM.-A tax upon, or tribute payobligation. Thus, in a formal deed of conveyance, the introductory recital always refers to the agreement in pursuance of which the conveyance is executed, meaning not the preliminary contract of sale, but the mutual assent of the parties at the time the deed is executed. (See an instance of an agreement operating as a conveyance, in Co. Litt. 9 Id. 191. 44 N. Y. 609; 4 R. I. 14. (in narr. in assumpsit). 3 Mass. 16; (to take possession, in a lease). 1 T. R. 735. AGREE, I, (in an article). 1 Carr. & P. 189; 1 Cro. 156, 486; 1 Esp. 189; 24 Wend. (N. Y.) 285. 10a.) When analyzed, the essential marks of an agreement are these: there must be

State of agreeing; harmony of opinion, statement, action, or character; concurrence; concord; conformity; as, a good agreement subsists among the members of the council. What agreement hath the temple of God with idols 2 Cor. vi. 16. Expansion and duration have this further agreement. Locke. Concord or correspondence of one word with another in gender, number, case, or person. A concurrence in an engagement that something shall be done or omitted; an exchange of promises; mutual understanding, arrangement, or stipulation; a contract. The language, oral or written, embodying reciprocal promises. Abbott. Brande & C.

An understanding between entities to follow a specific course of conduct. | A state whereby several parties share a view or opinion; the state of not contradicting one another. | A legally binding contract enforceable in a court of law. | Rules that exist in many languages that force some parts of a sentence to be used or inflected differently depending on certain attributes of other parts. | An agreeable quality.