What does assumpsit mean?
Assumpsit is a noun of Latin origin used chiefly in legal contexts to denote a promise or undertaking — an agreement by which one person assumes an obligation to act or pay. Historically it names a form of action in English common law: from the sixteenth century onward, courts allowed plaintiffs to sue on an 'assumpsit' when a defendant had promised to perform some duty and failed to do so. Because many such obligations were implied rather than expressly stated, lawyers distinguished express assumpsit from implied assumpsit, and the related form 'indebitatus assumpsit' became a routine way to recover debts. Over time the action of assumpsit helped shape modern contract law, making the word significant to legal historians even though it has fallen out of everyday use. Today it survives mainly in law reports, textbooks, and scholarly discussion of the history of contractual obligation.
nounA promise or undertaking, especially an oral agreement by which one party assumes an obligation to another; in law, a former common-law action to recover damages for breach of such a promise or contract.
- (Law) A promise or undertaking, express or implied, whereby a person assumes an obligation to do something; especially the foundation of the historical common-law action of assumpsit to enforce such a promise.
"The plaintiff brought a claim of assumpsit, alleging that the builder had broken his promise to complete the work."
"The court held that a valid assumpsit had arisen when the merchant orally agreed to deliver the goods."
"In the eighteenth century, actions of assumpsit gradually displaced debt and covenant as the standard means of enforcing contracts."
Rarely used; the word typically appears in singular fixed phrases such as 'action of assumpsit'.
"The treatise surveyed the various forms of assumpsits recognized by the early modern courts."
For centuries, English contract law was built on a single Latin word — assumpsit, 'he undertook' — the little verb that grew into the modern law of promises.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of assumpsit
Assumpsit comes directly from Latin assumpsit, meaning 'he or she undertook', the third-person perfect form of assumerе ('to take up, undertake'), formed from ad- ('toward') plus sumerе ('to take'). It entered English through the language of the common-law courts, where pleadings began with the allegation that the defendant 'undertook' to do something. The same Latin root gives English its family of 'sume' verbs, including assume, consume, presume, and resume.
How assumpsit is actually used
Assumpsit belongs almost entirely to legal and historical register. Outside discussions of contract law and legal history it would strike most readers as archaic; general writers should prefer 'promise', 'undertaking', or 'agreement'.
Easily confused with assumpsit
An assumption is a thing taken for granted or accepted as true without proof, while an assumpsit is a legal undertaking or promise to perform an obligation.