In the discussion of contracts up to this point we have assumed that both parties to the contract were of normal status. Many of the propositions of contract law have no application in cases in which one party or the other is of abnormal status. A discussion of the contracts of persons of abnormal status involves questions both of contract and of quasi-contract. The commoner types of abnormal status of natural persons will first be considered, then questions of partnership, agency, and of liability as trustees and the like which are often confused with agency; and then the contracts of artificial persons, that is, of the government and of public and private corporations.