The reason of this is the general convenicnce ; otherwise people
might be summoned away by some sudden event of pressing
importance, and without commissioning any one to look after
and manage their affairs, the result of which would be that
during their abscnce those affairs would be entirely neglected:
and of course no one would be likely to attend to them if he
were to have no action for the recovery of any outlay he might
have incurred in so doing. Conversely, as the uncommissioned
agent, if his management is good, lays his principal under a
legal obligation, so too he is himself answerable to the latter
for an account of his managemcnt ; and hcrein he must show
that he has satisfied the highest standard of carefulness, for to
have displayed such carefulness as he is wont to exercise in
his own affairs is not enough, if only a more diligent person

2 could have managed the business better. Guardians again,
who can be sued by the action on guardianship, cannot pro-
perly be said to be bound by contract, for there is no contract
between guardian and ward : but their obligation, as it cer-
tainly does not originate in delict, may be said to be quasi-
contractual. In this case too each party has a remedyagainst
the other : not only can the ward sue thc guardian directly on
the guardianship, but the guardian can also sue the ward by
the contrary action of the same name, if he has either incurred
any outlay in managing the ward's property, or bound him-
self on his behalf, or pledged his own property as security for

3 the ward's creditors. Again, where persons own property
jointly without being partners, by having, for instance, a joint
bequest or gift made to them, and one of them is liable to be
sued by the other in a partition suit because he alone has
takcn its fruits, or because the plaintiff has laid out money
on it in necessary expenses: here the defendant cannot pro-
perly be said to be bound by contract, for there has been no
contract made between the parties ; but as his obligation is
not based on delict, it may be said to be quasi-contractual.
