This article is a continuation of the “Invalid obligations ex stipulatione. The meaning of Impossibilium nulla obligatio est (D. 50,17,185) of Celsus in Roman law” (Law and Economics Studies, LXXXIII/2011, pp. 205–235). It leans on the similar construction and presents in a polemic way two groups of opinions with reference to invalid obligations ex venditione. It shows, similar to invalid obligations ex stipulatione, that the adaptation of civil law achievments to the ground of Roman law does not help to understand the concept of initial impossibility in Roman law. Alternative theories on the other hand, which analyse invalid obligations ex venditione in relation to the concept of valid formation of contract, put the main meaning to the regula iuris of Pomponius: Nec emptio nec venditio sine re quae veneat potest intellegi (D. 18,1,8 pr.) and at the same time allow to negate the application of the phrase of Celsus pertaining to obligations ex venditione.
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