Definition
A personal contract is a contract that concerns or relates to personal property, as distinguished from a contract concerning real property (a "real contract"). The distinction tracks the old common law division between real and personal property: contracts touching land and things affixed to it were real contracts, while contracts touching movable goods, chattels, and other personalty were personal contracts.
A classic example is a lease of a stock of cattle or other goods for years in exchange for rent. Though structured like a lease, the subject matter is personalty, making it a personal contract rather than a real contract, even if the transaction resembles one associated with land tenure.
A secondary but related dimension: a personal contract binds the contracting party during life and passes to the personal representatives of the estate after death, to the extent assets permit satisfaction. This distinguishes it from contracts so closely tied to the personal skill or identity of one party that they cannot survive death or be assigned — sometimes also called "personal" contracts in modern usage, though that is a different concept entirely.
Common Confusion
The phrase "personal contract" is used in two distinct ways in legal literature, and researchers must not conflate them.
The historical meaning — the subject of this entry — describes a contract whose subject matter is personal property, as opposed to real property. This is a classification by the nature of the thing contracted about.
The modern colloquial legal usage describes a contract so dependent on the individual skill, identity, or judgment of one party (a painter, an attorney, a performer) that it cannot be assigned or performed by a substitute. This usage focuses on the nature of the obligation and the parties, not the subject matter. Modern contract law treatises and courts frequently use "personal contract" or "personal service contract" in this second sense.
When reading older authorities, especially anything citing Coke's Reports or using the real/personal property framework, assume the first meaning. When reading modern contract law materials, assume the second unless the context specifies otherwise.
Why It Matters in Research
The primary research trap here is anachronism. The historical sources — Bouvier, Burrill, and Black's earlier editions — use "personal contract" exclusively to mean a contract about personal property, grounded in the real/personal property taxonomy of common law. Modern legal usage has largely abandoned this classification because the practical need to distinguish "real contracts" from "personal contracts" by subject matter has faded. What survives in modern usage is the entirely different sense of a contract tied to individual identity.
Researchers working in pre-twentieth-century sources on property law, leases of chattels, or estate administration should understand that "personal contract" in those materials signals a subject-matter classification, not a statement about assignability or personal skill.
The reference to 3 Co. 22a (Walker's Case) appears in both Bouvier and Burrill and anchors the historical doctrine. Researchers tracing the source of this classification will find it in Coke's discussion of the real/personal distinction in covenant law.
The rule that a personal contract binds the personal representatives of a deceased party "in respect of assets" also has research significance: it connects to early doctrines of estate liability and the limits of privity. Contracts tied to personal property did not extinguish at death; they ran to the executor or administrator but only to the extent the estate held assets to satisfy them. This is relevant background for research into nineteenth-century estate administration and the treatment of outstanding contractual obligations of decedents.
Historical Dictionary Support
The three source dictionaries are in close agreement on the core definition: a personal contract is a contract respecting personal property. Burrill is the most precise, illustrating with a concrete example (a lease of cattle for years rendering rent) and drawing the explicit contrast with a lease for years of land, which is a real contract. Bouvier adds the estate-liability dimension — that the contract runs to the covenantor's personal representatives after death in respect of assets — and both Bouvier and Burrill cite 3 Co. 22a as authority.
Black's entry is the thinnest, offering only the bare subject-matter definition without the estate-transmission rule or illustrative examples. This is characteristic of Black's treatment of property-classification terms in its early editions.
None of the historical sources address the modern usage of "personal contract" as a contract tied to individual skill or identity. That concept, though old in substance, traveled under different labels in classical common law (such as contracts for personal service or the rule against assignment of personal duties). Researchers should not expect the historical dictionaries to resolve questions about assignability of personal service contracts — those require different sources.
Encyclopedia Cross-Reference
The Law Mind Property Law Encyclopedia: Personal Property — Intellectual Property as Personal Property (Overview) [property_138]
The Law Mind Property Law Encyclopedia: Personal Property — Liens on Personal Property (Artisan's Lien, Statutory Liens) [property_141]