Civil dictate systems take the approach that an rearrangement of promises, or a concurrence of wills alone, rather than an network in valuable rights is the correct basis. So if you promised to give me a book, and I accepted your overture without giving anything in return, I would have a due right to the book and you could not spending money your mind about giving me it as a gift.

• However, in humdrum Entertainment Contracts law systems the abstraction of culpa in contrahendo, a form of 'estoppel', is progressively recycled to create obligations during pre-contractual negotiations. Estoppel is an equitable doctrine that provides for the creation of legal obligations if a party has given another an assurance and the other deadbeat relied on the assurance to his detriment.