Beschreibung:
<jats:sec><jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>Roman documents of loan mostly follow the form of the so-called <jats:italic>mutuum cum stipulatione.</jats:italic> The informal loan contract (<jats:italic>mutuum</jats:italic>) is supplemented by a <jats:italic>stipulatio</jats:italic> in which the borrower faithfully promises the repayment of the loan. This combined contract was probably meant to include interest to the documented loan capital in a legally valid way. This was achieved by using a <jats:italic>stipulatio</jats:italic> which was structured in an abstract way. Unlike the <jats:italic>mutuum</jats:italic> abstract stipulations were valid whether the loan capital had been paid to the borrower or not. Actually, the archive of the Sulpicii suggests that in the documents <jats:italic>mutuum</jats:italic> and <jats:italic>stipulatio</jats:italic> existed independently of each other. Contrary to prevailing opinion, this combined model, probably representing the initial concept of <jats:italic>mutuum cum stipulatione,</jats:italic> was also supported by Roman jurisprudence, most likely by Ulpian. Consequently, the <jats:italic>contractus re et verbis</jats:italic>, which often led legal historians to assume interpolations, has to be regarded as a category of classical Roman law.</jats:p>
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