The contract of locatio operis

Abstract

The present study is concerned with the contract of locatio operis and in particular with the responsibilities of the artificer or contractor in the execution of the work entrusted to him. However, the writer has also thought it fit to devote the opening chapter to a comparative examination of the juridical nature and general characteristics of the contract under review. The purpose behind this exercise is twofold: (1) in the first place the immediate problem with which a practising lawyer or a jurist is more often faced is that of characterization and in the present context the question of characterization occupies a foremost position since the contract of locatio operis bears certain affinities with ·several other bilateral and consensual contracts. (2) secondly, a comparative study of the responsibilities of the contractor under a contract of locatio operis cannot be complete without a comparative investigation of the juridical nature of the contract. This is due to the fact that the juridical nature of the contract of works varies under different legal systems and such divergence bears an influence on the relative rules regulating the responsibilities of the parties to the contract.