Legal Definitions - emtio

Definition: Emtio is a Latin term that means "purchase" in Roman and civil law. It refers to the act of buying or a purchase.

For example, if you buy a car, you are making an emtio or purchase of that car.

Emtio can also refer to specific types of purchases, such as:

• Emptio bonorum: A forced assignment for the benefit of creditors, where an insolvent debtor's estate is sold publicly, and the purchaser takes over all the debtor's property, rights, and claims, as well as their debts and liabilities.
• Emptio et venditio: A contract of sale where both the buyer and seller have duties and rights in the transaction. In Roman law, agreement on the thing to be sold and its price were essential.
• Emptio rei facta a pluribus ementibus: A purchase made by many buyers, which does not automatically create a partnership among the purchasers.
• Emptio rei speratae: The purchase of a thing not yet in existence or not yet in the seller's possession, such as a future crop.
• Emptio spei: An emptio rei speratae in which the price is fixed, regardless of actual gain.

For example, if a farmer sells their future crop to a buyer, it would be an emptio rei speratae. If the buyer agrees to pay a fixed price for the crop, regardless of the actual yield, it would be an emptio spei.