Absolute Revocation of Contracts: Legal Effects

Absolute Revocation of Contracts: Legal Concept, Characteristics, and Causes

A contract is void if not radically legal. It is the ultimate sanction of law to those contracts that:

• Have been transferred within the limits of the ordinance for the game of autonomy: the law, morality, and public order, as reflected in Article 1255 of the Civil Code.
• Lack the essential requirements of Article 1261 of the Civil Code (consent, object, and cause, and in some cases, also form) or those imposed by law because of the specific type of bargaining.
• Are unlawful, under section 1275 of the Civil Code.

The invalidity prevents the contract from deploying its kind effects ab initio and cannot be remedied by recognition or the passage of time. The only way out is to redo it, to renew it.

The action of nullity does not prescribe. It is exercised when any of the parties, their successors, or assigns seek to exercise a right based on the void contract, estimated as valid and fully effective, or because they are interested in obtaining the declaration of ineffectiveness as an obstacle to the exercise of a right. It can be declared officially by the courts, without the express request of a party.

Under Civil Code Article 1303, once the nullity of an obligation is declared, the contractors must also pay for things they had each been the subject of the contract, with its fruits, and the price with interest. The invalidity has a tendency to propagate, reaching the businesses that are in a situation of dependency declared invalid.

Exceptions to the Obligation to Repay

Not for being a nullity action is purely personal, non-stop harming their rights deriving zero business.

Unlawful Cause or Object

On the one hand, Article 1305 of the Civil Code provides that the invalidity comes from being unlawful to cause or object of the contract. The rules are:

1. If the act constitutes a felony or misdemeanor common to both parties, the same lack of action among themselves, proceed against it (criminal liability) and give things or money that had been the subject of the contract prevented the application in the Penal Code concerning the effects or instruments of crime or misdemeanor. The statement as to whether or not the facts constitute a crime or misdemeanor applies only to criminal jurisdiction.
2. When there is a crime or misconduct on the part of one of the contractors, the guilty party cannot claim the fulfillment of what had been promised, nor repeat what he has delivered. The culprit cannot claim restitution of what he would have no obligation to deliver what it had promised. He is enriched, therefore, if the offender has complied.

Awkward Cause

On the other hand, Article 1306 of the Civil Code stipulates that the assumption of fact which constitutes the awkward cause (because it is contrary to morality) is not a crime or misdemeanor. The rules are:

1. If the fault is part of both contracting parties, neither will be able to repeat what had been under contract or claim the fulfillment of what the other had promised him.
2. When the fault is part of a single contractor, you cannot repeat what he had given under the contract, nor ask for the fulfillment of what had been offered. The other, which was awkward stranger to the cause, you can claim what would have no obligation to fulfill what had been offered.