Legal Facts, Acts, and Business: A Comprehensive Overview
Legal Facts, Acts, and Business
Legal Facts
Legal facts are events that create, modify, or extinguish legal relationships. They can be:
- Natural Facts (strictly legal sense): Occur without human interference, following natural law. Examples: birth, death, natural disasters.
- Human Acts (broadly): Depend on human will. They can be legal or illegal.
Legal Acts
Legal acts are human acts with legal consequences. They are divided into:
- Strictly Legal Acts: Effects are determined by law (ex lege). Example: changing domicile.
- Legal Business (ex voluntate): Parties define the effects. Example: contracts.
Legal Business (Articles 104/184)
Essential Elements:
- Existence: Declaration of intent, purpose, and suitability of the object.
- Validity (Article 104): Capable agent, lawful object (possible, determined or determinable), and compliance with legal requirements.
- Effectiveness: Immediate or dependent on conditions, terms, or charges.
Defects of Legal Transactions
- Non-existence
- Invalidity:
- Absolute Nullity (Article 166): Affects public order. The act is void from the beginning (ex tunc).
- Relative Nullity (Article 171): Affects private interests (e.g., vices of consent, defects of representation). The act is voidable.
Distinctions Between Absolute and Relative Nullity
Order, action, convalescence (or confirmation), and complaint.
Invalidity of Business Law
- Nullity: Affects public order (Article 166).
- Annulment: Primarily affects the parties’ interests (Article 171).
The void act is null. The voidable act can be validated.
Nullity (Article 168)
Can be invoked by any interested party or the prosecution. The judge must declare nullity if aware of the legal business and its effects, even without a party’s request.
Annulment (Article 177)
Effective only after a court decision. Claimable only by interested parties for their benefit, except in cases of solidarity and indivisibility.
Vices of Consent
Mismatch between stated desire and subjective intention. Lead to annulment:
- Error
- Fraud (Dolus)
- Duress (can lead to nullity in cases of absolute duress)
- State of Danger
- Lesion (Undue Influence)
Social Vices
Disconnect between the parties’ will and the contract’s social purpose. Lead to nullity or annulment:
- Fraud against creditors (annulment)
- Simulation (absolute nullity)
Error or Ignorance (Articles 138/144)
Error is a false perception of reality. Ignorance is complete unawareness of reality. Both lead to annulment.
Types of Substantial Error
- Error of Fact: Concerns factual circumstances.
- Error in corpore (object’s identity)
- Error in substantia (object’s essence)
- Error in persona (person’s identity)
- Error of Law: Accepted if it doesn’t oppose law enforcement and was the determining factor for the act.
Principle of Conservation (Articles 140, 142, 143, 144)
Dolus (Articles 145-150)
A ruse to induce an act that causes harm. Differs from error because it’s intentional.
Duress
Unfair threat or pressure. Absolute duress leads to nullity; relative duress leads to annulment.
Lesion (Undue Influence)
Excessive disadvantage due to disparity in bargaining power. Leads to annulment or contract revision.
State of Danger
Extreme necessity leading to disproportionate obligations. Leads to annulment.
Simulation
Misrepresentation of a legal business. Absolute simulation (no real business) leads to nullity. Relative simulation (disguised business) can lead to nullity or annulment depending on the disguised business’s validity.
Fraud Against Creditors
Acts diminishing assets to avoid debt payment. Leads to annulment.