Definition
A Roman and civil law term for a species of contract by which work is let out to be performed — specifically, a bailment in which a thing is delivered to another for the purpose of having some work, labor, care, or skill bestowed upon it in exchange for pecuniary recompense. The person delivering the object is the locator; the person who receives it and undertakes the work is the conductor or workman.
In civil law taxonomy, locatio operis faciendi is one branch of the broader contract of hire (locatio conductio). Where locatio rei concerns the hire of a thing for use, and locatio operarum concerns the hire of personal services, locatio operis faciendi concerns the hire of a skilled result — the object is delivered so that something may be done to it, and payment is owed for the work accomplished.
Practical examples from the historical sources include a tailor receiving cloth to make a garment, a smith receiving metal to be fashioned, or a carrier receiving goods to be transported. The contract encompasses both the safekeeping of the thing and the performance of the work, making the relationship simultaneously one of bailment and service.
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Common Confusion
Locatio operis faciendi is frequently run together with locatio operarum (the hire of personal labor or services generally). The distinction matters: locatio operarum describes a worker selling time and effort — think of a day laborer. Locatio operis faciendi describes a contract for a specific result to be worked upon a specific thing delivered by the owner. The workman in locatio operis faciendi typically bears greater responsibility for the safe return of the object than does a simple employee, because he holds the thing as a bailee with an obligation to produce a defined outcome. Researchers encountering civil law treatises or Louisiana and Quebec materials must observe this distinction carefully, as liability rules differ between the two forms.
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Core Elements
Because the term has a precise civil law structure and functions simultaneously as a bailment and a service contract, the formal elements are worth separating:
1. DELIVERY OF A THING. The owner (locator) delivers a specific object to the workman (conductor). Without delivery, the relationship is locatio operarum rather than locatio operis faciendi.
2. WORK TO BE PERFORMED ON THAT THING. The conductor undertakes to bestow labor, skill, care, or craftsmanship specifically upon the delivered object — not simply to perform general services.
3. PECUNIARY RECOMPENSE. Payment is owed for the work. The gratuitous performance of work on a delivered thing would shift the relationship toward a different bailment category (mandatum or depositum).
4. BAILMENT DIMENSION. Because the thing is in the conductor's possession, he is responsible for its safekeeping during the period of work. The standard of care owed is a recurring question in civil law commentary.
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Why It Matters in Research
This term appears almost exclusively in civil law contexts and in common law treatises that engage systematically with Roman law categories — principally Story on Bailments and Kent's Commentaries, both of which the historical dictionaries cite directly. Researchers in American common law sources will encounter locatio operis faciendi mainly as an organizing framework in those treatises, not as operative doctrine in most U.S. case law.
The most significant research trap is jurisdictional: in Louisiana, Quebec, and other mixed civil law jurisdictions, the categories of locatio conductio retain genuine doctrinal force and may appear in case law and codes as living law rather than historical taxonomy. A researcher working across common law and civil law sources must be alert to this gap.
The bailment dimension creates a second research path. Because locatio operis faciendi is simultaneously a service contract and a bailment, cases involving repairers, carriers, tailors, smiths, and similar tradespeople in the 18th and 19th century may be analyzed under either framework depending on the court and the treatise tradition it draws upon. Story's Bailments (§§ 370, 421–422) is the key American source and the most likely place to find common law courts engaging with the civil law framework in any depth.
Researchers should also note that Rapalje & Lawrence collapse the concept into the simpler phrase "hiring of labor and services," which loses the bailment dimension entirely. This compression is common in shorter reference works and can mislead researchers who rely on summary definitions without consulting Story or Kent.
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Historical Dictionary Support
The historical dictionaries are in close agreement on the core definition. Black's and Burrill's are verbatim — both reproduce the formulation from Kent and Story without significant editorial addition. Bouvier's is markedly compressed, directing the reader to the entry for HIRE without elaborating the bailment structure. Rapalje & Lawrence offer the broadest paraphrase but also the least precise, omitting the delivery and bailment elements that distinguish this category from ordinary employment.
None of the historical dictionaries address the distinction between locatio operis faciendi and locatio operarum with any care, and none flag the jurisdictional divergence between civil law systems (where the category is operative) and common law systems (where it functions mainly as treatise taxonomy). The reliance on Kent and Story as dual authority sources is consistent across all entries that provide citations, confirming those treatises as the primary American conduit for this civil law concept.
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Jurisdictional Note
In Louisiana and Quebec, the civil law taxonomy of hire — including locatio operis faciendi — retains doctrinal relevance and appears in code provisions and case law governing service contracts and deposit. In common law states, the term is effectively historical and taxonomic, encountered in treatise analysis rather than operative pleading or statutory language.
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