The Meeting of the Minds (also referred to as mutual assent or consensus ad idem) is a term in contract law used to describe the intentions of the parties forming the contract. In particular it refers to the situation where there is a common understanding in the formation of the contract. This condition is often considered a necessary requirement to the formation of an enforceable contract. A contract is any legally-enforceable promise or set of promises made by one party to another and, as such, reflects the policies represented by freedom of contract. ...
The reasoning is that a party should not be held to a contract that they were not even aware existed. A mutual promise between friends over simple personal matters should not be a situation where legal remedies are to be used. Equally any such agreement where the obligation is primarily a moral one rather than a legal one should not be enforceable. It is only when all parties involved are aware of the formation of a legal obligation is there a meeting of the minds.
Tutor factam pupillam suam nec ipse uxorem ducere nec filio suo in matrimonio adiungere potest.
Idem tamen, quod in servilibus cognationibus constitutum est, etiam in servilibus adfinitatibus servandum est, veluti ut eam, quae in contubernio patris fuerit, quasi novercam non possim ducere, et contra eam, quae in contubernio filii fuerit, patrem quasi nurum non ducere: aeque nec matrem eius, quam quis in servitute uxorem habuit, quasi socrum.
Sed fetus dotalium pecorum ad maritum pertinent, quia fructibus computantur, sic tamen, ut suppleri proprietatem prius oporteat et summissis in locum mortuorum capitum ex adgnatis residuum in fructum maritus habeat, quia fructus dotis ad eum pertineat.
The expression is redundant, however, only if consensus is taken in the sense “majority of opinion” rather than in its equally valid and earlier sense “general agreement or concord.” Criticism of consensus of opinion has been so persistent and widespread that the phrase, even though in common use, occurs only infrequently in edited formal writing.
The phrase general consensus is objected to for similar reasons.
Consensus is now widely used attributively, esp. in the phrase consensus politics.
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