Essentialia negotii is a Latin

Latin

Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...

 legal term used in contract

Contract

A contract is an agreement entered into by two parties or more with the intention of creating a legal obligation, which may have elements in writing. Contracts can be made orally. The remedy for breach of contract can be "damages" or compensation of money. In equity, the remedy can be specific...

 law. It denotes the minimum contents of a contract in order for it to be held effective and legally binding.

General contracts

Two parties purport to "agree" to have concluded a contract for a car, but have not actually worked out a price, it cannot be said that they have concluded a contract. The price would seem to be an "essential term". If further, the "buyer" had gone to a car dealer and said he would pay £10,000 for a car, but has not said which car, a "essential term" is probably lacking again. The price and the thing exchanged are examples of essential terms in simple sale of goods contracts.

However, the court may not just hold that a contract is invalid. In England, the Sale of Goods Act 1979

Sale of Goods Act 1979

The Sale of Goods Act 1979 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which regulates English contract law and UK commercial law in respect of goods that are sold and bought. The Act consolidates the original Sale of Goods Act 1893 and subsequent legislation, which in turn had codified and...

 s.8(2) states ‘the buyer must pay reasonable price’ when a contract of sale is silent on price. Accordingly the absence of price may not be fatal to a contract of sale.

Employment contracts

In contracts of employment, essential terms can include not just pay and a basic job description (the work-wage bargain) but also to specifics on holidays, a notice period in the event of dismissal, the place of work, any collective agreement

Collective agreement

A collective agreement or collective bargaining agreement is an agreement between employers and employees which regulates the terms and conditions of employees in their workplace, their duties and the duties of the employer...

s and whether the job is expected to be permanent or a fixed term contract. These are examples under European Union law

European Union law

European Union law is a body of treaties and legislation, such as Regulations and Directives, which have direct effect or indirect effect on the laws of European Union member states. The three sources of European Union law are primary law, secondary law and supplementary law...

, implemented under Directive 91/533 on an employer's obligation to inform employees of the conditions applicable to the contract of employment relationship. Article 2 of the Directive

European Union directive

A directive is a legislative act of the European Union, which requires member states to achieve a particular result without dictating the means of achieving that result. It can be distinguished from regulations which are self-executing and do not require any implementing measures. Directives...

 states,

"1. An employer shall be obliged to notify an employee to whom this Directive applies hereinafter referred to as the "employee", of the essential aspects of the contract or employment relationship"

All countries in the European Union

European Union

The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...

 are required to "translate" directives into national legislation. An example of this is the Employment Rights Act 1996, section 1, in the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

, which sets out the obligation of employers to supply employees with a statement of written particulars within two months of employment beginning.

In the English speaking world, this notion has not survived as well as in civil law jurisdictions, for the doctrine of consideration

Consideration

Consideration is the central concept in the common law of contracts and is required, in most cases, for a contract to be enforceable. Consideration is the price one pays for another's promise. It can take a number of forms: money, property, a promise, the doing of an act, or even refraining from...

has essentially covered the requirement of essential terms in basic bargains. However the concept of what is "essential" changes according to the nature of a particular contract, and so there may be fewer "essentials" in the case of a simple shopping exchange, and more essentials necessary for the proper functioning of a contract in the case of renting a home, taking out a bank loan or pursuing a career.