nudum pactumn.

1603 J. Norden Pensive Soules Delight sig. F^v What man of lawe can rightly censure this, Pactum or nudum pactum, yea or no?

1686 R. Wiseman Law of Laws I. viii. 151 And albeit it be a rule in the Civil Law, that a bare promise or compact, call'd Nudum Pactum, is not obligatory, nor shall give any cause of action.

1791 T. Jefferson Let. 6 May in Papers (1982) XX. 375 If a man in consideration of a marriage already taken place, covenants or conveys; it is merely voluntary, a nudum pactum which will not raise a right.

1827 Reg. Deb. Congress U.S. III. 675 If a promise was obtained from us without consideration..I should view it as nudum pactum.

1856 W. Whewell Elem. Morality II. v. xi. 292 Roman Law did not compel the performance of a nudum pactum, a mere promise made for no reasonable consideration.

1914 Amer. Polit. Sci. Rev. 8 304 A contract without consideration, or a nudum pactum, in the common law, not the civil law sense.

1959 Earl Jowitt & C. Walsh Dict. Eng. Law II. 1249/1 Nudum pactum, a bare agreement, that is to say, an agreement made without consideration and upon which, unless it is under seal, no action will lie.

1997 Good Faith & Fault in Contract Law iii. 27 The merger of freedom in the negotiation process..has led English law to rule that an offer promised to be irrevocable, is still revocable, as it is not supported by consideration, and is thus good to create only a nudum pactum.