quid pro quo

This article is about the phrase. For the film, see Quid Pro Quo.

Quid pro quo (From the Latin meaning "something for something")^[1] indicates a more-or-less equal exchange or substitution of goods or services. English speakers often use the term to mean "a favor for a favor" and the phrases with almost identical meaning include: "what for what," "give and take," "tit for tat", "this for that", and "you scratch my back, and I'll scratch yours".

Legal usage

In legal usage, quid pro quo indicates that an item or a service has been traded in return for something of value, usually when the propriety or equity of the transaction is in question. For example, under the common law (except in Scotland), a binding contract must involve consideration: that is, the exchange of something of value for something else of economic value. If the exchange appears excessively one sided, courts in some jurisdictions may question whether a quid pro quo did actually exist and the contract may be void by law.^[2]

Another set of examples arises when an exchange is prohibited by public policy. Where prostitution is illegal, it remains common and lawful to use gifts, expensive meals and so on, as a means of attracting a sexual partner. The distinction is whether sexual favors are directly conditional on receiving gifts and vice-versa. In the absence of such a quid pro quo, there is no prostitution. Similarly, political donors are legally entitled to support candidates that hold positions with which the donors agree, or which will benefit the donors. Such conduct becomes bribery only when there is an identifiable exchange between the contribution and official acts, previous or subsequent, and the term quid pro quo denotes such an exchange. The term may also be used to describe blackmail, where a person offers to refrain from some harmful conduct in return for valuable consideration.

The term is also widely used to denote a type of sexual harassment in two variations, one of which answers to bribery and the other to blackmail. In the former case, unwarranted advancement is offered in return for sexual favors. In the second, deserved advancement, or simple continuation in service, is conditional on sexual receptivity. Quid pro quo makes the situation of a boss asking a subordinate for sex, or vice-versa, repugnant to the law.

Other meanings

Quid pro quo may less commonly refer to something (originally a medicine) given or used in place of another.

Quid pro quo may sometimes be used to define a misunderstanding or blunder made by the substituting of one thing for another, particularly in the context of the transcribing of a text.^[3]

Quid pro quo may sometimes be described as the idiom,"You scratch my back and I'll scratch yours". In legislative contexts, it may take the form of vote trading. It may also describe the reverse situation, for example when a donor expects something in return later.

Quid pro quo is often used as a term in England to mean 'What's in it for me?'

Quid Pro Quo was an Internet server package for Classic MacOS.

The word Quid is a British slang term for a unit/units of the currency Pound Sterling (e.g., Twenty Pounds/ Twenty Quid) and is believed to come from the phrase Quid pro quo, referring to currency as a means of exchange.

Related phrases

The phrase qui pro quo, or quiproquo (from medieval Latin: literally qui instead of quo) is common in languages such as Italian, Portuguese, Spanish and French, where it means a misunderstanding.^[4]

In those languages, the phrase corresponding to the usage of quid pro quo in English is do ut des (Latin for "I give, so that you may give").

See also

• List of Latin phrases
• An eye for an eye
• Offset agreement
• Pay to Play

Notes