locus poenitentiae

locus poenitentiae

‘the right to withdraw’. Specially in Scots law, the term refers to the opportunity to treat as not binding an agreement freely entered into where the requisite formalities have not been concluded. The right to withdraw can be lost by the operation of a personal bar whether at common law or as set out by statute.

LOCUS POENITENTIAE. contracts, crim. law. Literally this signifies a place of repentance; in law, it is the opportunity of withdrawing from a projected contract, before the parties are finally bound; or of abandoning the intention of committing a crime, before it has been completed, 2 Bro. C. R. 569; Ersk. Laws of Scotl. 290. Vide article Attempt.