9. Ex nudo pacto non oritur actio.
Cf. D. 2. 14. 7. 4: Nuda pactio obligationem non parit. C. 4. 65. 27: Ex nudo pacto ... actionem jure nostro nasci non potuisse.
In English law this maxim expresses the necessity of a legal consideration for the validity of a contract. Nudum pactum is pactum sine causa promittendi. In the civil law, however, the maxim means, on the contrary, that an agreement, to become binding, must fall within one of the recognised classes of legally valid contracts. There was no general principle that an agreement, as such, had the force of law. See § 124.