merilum

Updated: May 23, 2025

But, whereas, in contract, I merit by virtue of my own power and the other contractor's need, in the case of the gift, I merit only by the benignity of the giver, and to the extent that, when he has given it, it shall be mine rather than another's. This distinction he believes to coincide with the scholastic separation of merilum congrui and merilum condigni.

Alexander Bain - Moral Science; a Compendium of Ethics