These are payments made by an employer to a contractor which are not authorized by the contract. They are occasionally paid when a contractor has performed very much to the satisfaction of the employer but has shouldered some extra cost clearly not attributable to his own actions, such as exception- ally bad weather or some other misfortune outside his control. Only the employer can decide to make an ex-contractual payment, not the engineer or other person acting on his behalf; and the employer must himself have power to make the payment. Hence a private person or company may be able to make an ex-contractual payment; but a public.
