Legal Definitions - conventione

The term conventione refers to a historical legal action, specifically a formal written order (a writ) issued by a court. Its purpose was to address situations where one party failed to uphold the terms of a formal, written promise or agreement, known as a covenant. Essentially, it was a legal remedy for the violation of a written contract.

Here are some examples illustrating how conventione would have applied:

• Building Contract Breach: Imagine a medieval lord who entered into a detailed written agreement with a master mason. This agreement, a covenant, stipulated that the mason would construct a new defensive wall for the lord's castle by a specific date and to certain specifications. If the mason failed to complete the wall as promised in the written covenant, the lord could have sought a conventione writ to compel the mason to fulfill the agreement or provide compensation for the breach.

  This example illustrates how a conventione would be used when a written agreement for construction services was violated, allowing the aggrieved party to seek a legal remedy for the unfulfilled promise.

• Service Agreement Violation: Consider a wealthy merchant in a historical period who had a formal written covenant with a skilled scribe. The agreement outlined that the scribe would produce a specific number of illuminated manuscripts over a five-year period. If the scribe, without valid reason, stopped working after only two years, thereby breaching the terms of their written covenant, the merchant could have pursued a conventione to enforce the agreement or seek damages for the unfulfilled service.

  Here, the conventione serves as the legal mechanism to address the breach of a written covenant pertaining to a long-term service arrangement, allowing the merchant to seek redress for the scribe's failure to perform as agreed.

• Leasehold Covenant Failure: In a historical context, a landowner might have granted a long-term lease to a tenant farmer through a formal written covenant. This covenant included a specific clause requiring the tenant to maintain the irrigation ditches on the property in good working order. If the tenant neglected this duty, causing damage to the land and breaching the written covenant, the landowner could have initiated a conventione to compel the tenant to perform the agreed-upon maintenance or pay for the damages incurred due to the breach.

  This scenario demonstrates the application of conventione when a specific condition within a written lease agreement (a covenant) was violated, providing the landowner with a legal means to enforce the tenant's obligations or recover losses.