Principles of European Law Volume 1: Benevolent Intervention in Another's Affairs

by Von Bar, Christian

• ISBN13: 9780199296019
• ISBN10: 0199296014
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-07-27
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

The research conducted by the Study Group on a European Civil Code seeks to advance the process of Europeanisation of private law by drafting a set of common European principles which are especially relevant for the functioning of the common market. The aim is the creation of a European Civil Code, or a Common Frame of Reference, to furnish each of the national jurisdictions a framework of rules of private international law.

Author Biography

Chairman of the Study Group on a European Civil Code at the European Legal Studies Institute; Professor at the Universitat Osnabruck. The Study Group on a European Civil Code is a network of academics, from across the EU, conducting comparative law research in private law in the various legal jurisdictions of the Member States.

Table of Contents

Foreword	ix
Our Sponsors	xiii
Preface to this volume	xv
Text of Articles
English	3	(3)
Benevolent Intervention in Another's Affairs
Danish	6	(3)
Godgørende indgriben i en andens anliggender
Dutch	9	(3)
Zaakwaarneming
Estonian	12	(3)
Käsundita Asjaajamine
Finnish	15	(3)
Asiainhuolto
French	18	(3)
Gestion d'affaires d'autrui
German	21	(3)
Besorgung fremder Angelegenheiten
Greek	24	(3)
Διomicronιkappaηση αλλomicronτριων
Hungarian	27	(3)
Megbizás nélküli ügyvitel
Italian	30	(3)
Gestione d'Affari Altrui
Latvian	33	(3)
Neuzdota lietvediba
Lithuanian	36	(3)
Kito Asmens ReikalU Tvarkymas to Asmens Interesais
Portuguese	39	(3)
Gestão de Assuntos Alheios
Slovenian	42	(3)
Poslovodstvo Tujih Zadev
Spanish	45	(3)
Gestión De Asuntos Ajenos
Swedish	48	(5)
Tjänster Utan Uppdrag
Principles of European Law on Benevolent Intervention in Another's Affairs
Introduction
A. General
1. Legal obligations complementary to contract law and tort law	53	(1)
2. Traditional Latin nomenclature	53	(1)
3. An English term for negotiorum gestio	53	(1)
4. Problems of traditional terminology in the other languages of the EU	54	(1)
5. The concept of benevolent intervention in another's affairs	54	(1)
6. The spread of the concept of negotiorum gestio in the continental jurisdictions of the EU	54	(1)
7. Scotland and Scandinavia	55	(1)
8. England and Ireland	55	(1)
9. Negotiorum gestio and the doctrine of quasi-contracts	55	(1)
10. Quasi-contracts and the Common Law	56	(1)
B. The Sources of Law on Benevolent Intervention in Another's Affairs (negotiorum gestio) in the Codified Systems of the EU
11. The sources in overview	56	(1)
12. The location of negotiorum gestio within the overall private law system	56	(1)
13. The essential content of the rules	57	(1)
14. Fixing the scope of application (definition)	57	(1)
19. Provisions on the persons brought together in the legal relationship	58	(1)
16. Indirect clarifications	58	(1)
17. Clarification of the intervener's duties	59	(1)
18. Duty of care	59	(1)
19. Duty to continue the intervention	59	(1)
20. Informing the principal	59	(1)
21. Giving an account and surrender of proceeds	59	(1)
22. Clarification of the intervener's rights	60	(1)
23. Reimbursement of expenditure	60	(1)
24. Further claims which are expressly governed	60	(1)
25. Intervener's power of representation	61	(1)
C. Provisions in the Codifications concerning (i) Benevolent, but Officious Intervention and (ii) Management of Another's Affairs for One's Own Benefit
26. Restriction of the law on negotiorum gestio to justified management of another's affairs	61	(1)
27. Inclusion of unjustified management of another's affairs	62	(1)
28. Arrogated management of another's affairs	62	(1)
29. Management of another's affair in the mistaken belief it is one's own	63	(1)
D. 'Applied' Negotiorum Gestio
30. General	64	(1)
31. Manifestations	64	(1)
32. Family and inheritance law	64	(1)
33. Property law	65	(1)
34. Right of recourse	65	(1)
35. Contract law	66	(1)
36. Further examples	67	(1)
37. Convention d'assistance	67	(1)
38. Emergency medical treatment	68	(1)
E. The Range of Activities within the Scope of the Law on negotiorum gestio
39. General	68	(1)
40. Juridical acts and mere conduct	69	(1)
41. Conduct for the protection of a person	69	(1)
42. Acts contrary to law or bonos mores	70	(1)
43. Long-term measures and omissions	70	(1)
F. The Position of the Law of Benevolent Intervention within the Legal System
44. The subsidiarity of the law of benevolent intervention: general	70	(1)
45. The relationship to contract law	71	(1)
46. The relationship to tort law	71	(1)
47. The relationship to the law of unjustified enrichment	72	(1)
G. The Practical Relevance of the Law of Benevolent Intervention in the Codified Systems of Continental Europe
48. Different starting points	73	(1)
49. Empirical material	73	(1)
50. Social relevance	73	(1)
H. Scotland
51. Negotiorum gestio a recognised institution	73	(1)
52. Agency of necessity	74	(1)
I. Scandinavia
53. General	74	(1)
54. Specific basis and reasoning by analogy	74	(1)
55. Commercial Code Ch. 18 § 10 and Scandinavian consumer protection statutes	75	(1)
56. Further examples of rules which may serve as a basis for analogy	75	(2)
57. Power of representation between spouses	77	(1)
J. England and Ireland
58. The lack of a discrete concept of a legal relationship arising from benevolent intervention in another's affair	77	(1)
59. Exceptions from the general rule that expenses incurred for the interest of another are not compensable if there is no underlying duty to perform	78	(1)
60. Statute law	78	(1)
61. Trust law	78	(1)
62. The instruments of Common Law	78	(1)
63. Gratuitous agents	79	(1)
64. The duties of an agent	79	(1)
65. Agency by agreement and agency by ratification	80	(1)
66. Agency of necessity	80	(1)
67. Necessity	81	(1)
68. Restriction of the scope of application to specific categories of cases	82	(1)
69. Matters of carriage	82	(1)
70. Excess of authority	83	(1)
71. Bailment	84	(1)
72. The legal position of the bailee	85	(1)
73. Unjustified enrichment	86	(1)
74. Quantum meruit	86	(1)
75. Relation to the law of negotiorum gestio	86	(1)
76. Money paid to the defendant's use	87	(1)
K. International law and European law
77. Admiralty law	88	(1)
78. Salvage	88	(1)
79. General average	88	(1)
80. European Community law	89	(1)
L The Basic Tenor of the Following Principles
81. A unitary approach	89	(1)
82. Necessary amendments of contract and unjustified enrichment law	90	(1)
83. Incentive to act out of neighbourly solidarity	90	(1)
84. European Community law	90	(1)
85. No resuscitation of the law of quasi-contracts	91	(1)
86. Exclusion of public law	92	(1)
87. Public insurance schemes	92	(1)
88. Right of recourse and reduction of claim	93	(1)
89. Limitation to justified interventions in another's affairs	94	(1)
90. The priority of contract law	94	(1)
91. Relationship to unjustified enrichment law and tort law	94	(1)
92. Contribution between joint debtors; property law	95	(1)
93. Agency rules of PECL and intervener's authority under Article 3:106	95	(1)
94. The requisite balance between the interests of the gestor and the protection of the principal from officious intermeddling	95	(1)
95. The structure of these Principles	96	(1)
96. Acts within the purview of negotiorum gestio	96	(1)
97. Required subjective elements	96	(1)
98. Required objective elements	97	(1)
99. The affair 'of another'	97	(1)
100. Duties of the intervener	98	(1)
101. Rights of the intervener	99	(1)
102. Articles 3:104 and 3:105	99	(1)
103. Authority of the intervener	99	(1)
104. Burden of proof	99	(1)
105. Applied negotiorum gestio	99	(2)
Chapter 1: Scope of Application
Article 1:101: Intervention to Benefit Another
Comments
A. General
1. Terminology	101	(1)
2. Requirements of negotiorum gestio	101	(1)
3. Protection of the principal against officious intermeddling in his affairs	102	(1)
4. Special forms of the law of negotiorum gestio are not within this regime	102	(1)
5. Negotiorum gestio as a defence within the framework of the law of tort	103	(1)
6. Burden of proof	103	(1)
7. Proof	103	(1)
B. The Activities Covered
8. 'Acting' for another	104	(1)
9. Acts to protect another's person are included	104	(1)
10. One-off activities and long-term undertakings	104	(1)
11. Omissions	104	(1)
12. Actions contrary to law or public policy	105	(1)
13. Emergency situations	105	(1)
14. Disallowed interventions	105	(1)
15. Acts of a personal nature excluded	106	(1)
16. Conducting litigation as a benevolent intervener	106	(1)
C. The Intention Predominantly to Benefit Another (Para (1))
17. Meaning of 'benefiting'	107	(1)
18. The success of the venture is not essential	107	(1)
19. Benefiting another, not intending to pursue one's own interests	107	(1)
20. No possibility of approval for acts undertaken for own benefit	108	(1)
21. 'Predominant' intention of benefiting another	108	(2)
22. Acting in pursuance of a void contract	110	(1)
23. Similar cases	110	(1)
24. Collateral advancement of a subordinate personal interest can affect the quantum of the intervener's claim	110	(1)
25. Intervener and principal: general observations	111	(1)
26. Multiple interveners	111	(1)
27. PECL Part III, Chapter 10	112	(1)
28. Identifying the principal	112	(1)
29. The determinability of the principal at the moment of intervention	112	(1)
30. Where the principal is unknown to the intervener	113	(1)
31. Mistake about the person benefited	113	(1)
32. Indirect beneficiaries are not principals within the sense of Article 1:101	114	(1)
33. Multiple principals	115	(1)
D. A Reasonable Ground (Para (1)(a))
34. General	115	(1)
35. Defective and deficient performance of the intervention	115	(1)
36. No requirement of pre-existing legal relationship	116	(1)
37. A 'reasonable' ground	116	(1)
38. Some guidance in the following rules	117	(1)
E. Want of Respect for the Principal's Wishes (Para (2))
39. Reasonable ground to act absent	117	(1)
40. Where the wishes of the principal are not binding	117	(1)
41. Overriding public interest	118	(1)
42. Priority of the principal's free determination of their will	118	(1)
43. Para (2) limb (a)	118	(1)
44. The intervener is unable to contact the principal	119	(1)
45. Positive steps required	119	(1)
46. Reasonable opportunity to discover the principal's wishes	119	(1)
47. Contacting the principal can in itself amount to a justified negotiorum gestio	120	(1)
48. Negotiorum gestio or contract?	120	(1)
49. Para (2) limb (h)	120	(1)
50. Actual knowledge of the contrary wishes of the principal	121	(1)
51. Negligent failure to appreciate the principal's wishes	121	(1)
52. Standard of care	121	(1)
53 Acting in ignorance of the principal's wishes, but without negligent failure to heed them	122	(1)
F. Approval by the Principal (Para (1)(b))
54. Significance and consequences of an approval by the principal	122	(1)
55. Legal nature of the approval	122	(1)
56. An important case	123	(1)
57. Approval without such undue delay as would adversely affect the intervener	123	(1)
58. Approval and contract	123	(1)
59. Approval does not, as a rule, create a contract	123	(1)
60. All other requirements of para (1) remain unaffected	124	(1)
Notes
I. Prevalence and Notion of the Law of Negotiorum Gestio in General	124	(4)
II. The Activities Covered	128	(6)
III. Act on 'Another's Behalf' and the Intention to Benefit Another	134	(5)
IV. The Preponderance of the Intention to Benefit Another; Simultaneous Pursuit of One's Own Interests	139	(5)
V. In Particular: Performance on the Basis of a Void Contract for Services	144	(3)
VI. The Principal	147	(5)
VII. The Concept of Reasonable Ground an its Equivalents	152	(6)
VIII. In Particular: the Duty to Ascertain the Principal's Wishes	158	(5)
IX. Ratification by the Principal	163	(7)
X. Burden of Proof	170	(3)
Article 1:102: Intervention to Perform Another's Duty
Comments
A. General
1. Scope and purpose	173	(1)
2. Duties during intervention	173	(1)
3. Need for a rule within the framework of negotiorum gestio	173	(1)
B. Intervention Urgently Required in Overriding Public Interest
4. Overriding public interest	174	(1)
5. Performing another's maintenance obligations	174	(1)
6. Performance must be due	174	(1)
7. Performance must be urgently required	175	(1)
C. Third Party to be Regarded as Principal
8. An exception to Article 1:101(1)	176	(1)
D. Article 1:101(2) Inapplicable
9. Public interest overriding the contrary wishes of the principal	176	(1)
Notes
I. General Requirements of a Lawful Management of Another's Affairs Contrary to the Principal's Wishes	177	(4)
II. Specific Cases Subject to Particular Rules (Maintenance, Funeral Costs)	181	(5)
Article 1:103: Exclusions
Comments
A. The Negative Requirements for the Applicability of the Law of negotiorum gestio
1. Fundamentals	186	(1)
2. Priority of special statutory regimes	186	(1)
B. Authority and Duty (limb (a))
3. The principle	187	(1)
4. Precise identification of the duty	187	(1)
5. Acting under a contractual obligation towards the principal	187	(1)
6. Existence of a contract	188	(1)
7. Acting in pursuance of a void contract	188	(1)
8. Acting in breach of contract	189	(1)
9. The priority of contract law rules of a quasi-negotiorum gestio nature	189	(1)
10. Acting under another duty towards the principal	189	(1)
11. Moral duties	190	(1)
12. The duty to render assistance under criminal law	190	(1)
C. Acting under another Authority (limb (b))
13. General	190	(1)
14. Examples in private law	191	(1)
15. Authority to act under public law	191	(1)
16. "independently of the principal's consent	192	(1)
D. Performing a Duty Towards a Third Party (limb (c))
17. Significance	192	(1)
18. Scope of application	193	(1)
19. Demarcation	193	(1)
20. Precise analysis of the contractual duty	194	(1)
21. No limitation to contractual duties	194	(1)
Notes
I. The Precedence of Contract Law	195	(4)
II. Contributions Between Joint Debtors	199	(2)
III. Statutory Duties to Provide Help	201	(3)
IV. Other Powers of Intervention	204	(3)
V Acts Done to Discharge an Obligation to a Third Party	207	(4)
Chapter 2: Duties of Intervener
Article 2:101: Duties during Intervention
Comments
A. The Duties of the Intervener in Overview
1. Contents of the second Chapter	211	(1)
2. Duties during intervention	211	(1)
3. Duties after intervention	211	(1)
4. The second Chapter's scope of application	212	(1)
B. The General Duty to Act with Reasonable Care (Para (1) (a))
5. General	212	(1)
6. Standard of care of professionals	212	(1)
7. Emergency measures	212	(1)
C. Compliance with the Principal's Wishes (limb (b))
8. Specification of the general duty of care	213	(1)
9. Special information available to the intervener	213	(1)
10. The exception in Article 1:102	213	(1)
D. The Duty to Inform (limb (c))
11. A continual duty	214	(1)
12. "during the intervention"	214	(1)
13. An indicator of the intention to act for another	214	(1)
14. Providing the information itself amounts to a negotiorum gestio	214	(1)
15. Content of the information required	215	(1)
16. Consent and contract	215	(1)
E. The Duty not to Discontinue an Act after Commencement without Good Reason (Para (2))
17. General	215	(1)
18. Good reasons to discontinue the intervention	215	(1)
19. Achievement of the desired object	216	(1)
20. The principal can reasonably be expected to take over	216	(1)
21. Actual or presumed contrary wishes of the principal	216	(1)
22. Unreasonableness	216	(1)
23. Uselessness	217	(1)
24. Termination of the benevolent intervention without good reason	217	(1)
Notes
I. The General Duty to Take Reasonable Care	218	(2)
II. The Duty to Orientate the Exercise of Care According to the Principal's Wishes	220	(3)
III. The Duty to Inform	223	(2)
IV. The Duty to Continue the Intervention	225	(4)
Article 2:102: Duties after Intervention
Comments
A. General
1. Three duties after intervention	229	(1)
2. "After intervening"	229	(1)
3. "Without undue delay"	230	(1)
4. Duties and rights	230	(1)
B. The Duties to Report and to Account
5. The duty to report	230	(1)
6. The duty to account	230	(1)
C. The Duty to Deliver Up
7. The most important economic duty of the intervener	231	(1)
8. Content and extent of the duty to surrender	231	(1)
9. Interest	232	(1)
D. Protection of Interveners without Full Legal Capacity
10. Para (2)	232	(1)
11. Lack of full legal capacity	233	(1)
Notes
I. Duty to Inform and to Render an Account	233	(2)
II. The Duty to Surrender	235	(2)
III. In Particular: The Duty to Pay Interest on Monies Received	237	(9)
IV. Intervener without Full Legal Caracit7	246
Article 2:103: Reparation for Damage Caused by Breach of Duty-
Comments
A Liability to make Reparation for Breach of Duty
1. The duty to make reparation under the law of benevolent intervention in another's affairs	242	(1)
2. Reparation	243	(1)
3. Damage	243	(1)
B. General Limits to Liability for Defective Execution of a Benevolent Intervention (Para (1))
4. Causation	243	(1)
5. Three situations	243	(1)
6. Liability for the realisation of a risk created by the gestor	243	(1)
7. Liability for the realisation of a risk increased by the gestor	244	(1)
8. The gestor intentionally perpetuated the risk	244	(1)
9. Intention	245	(1)
C. Liability for Others; Multiple Gestors
10. No general liability for other gestors	245	(1)
11. No joint liability of multiple interveners as a general rule	245	(1)
D. Reduction of Liability (Para (2))
12. General	245	(1)
13. The fairness test	246	(1)
E. Gestors without Full Legal Capacity (Para (3))
14. General liability under the law of tort also required	246	(1)
Notes
I. The Basis of the Claim for Damages	247	(2)
II. Liability for Others; Multiple Gestors	249	(2)
III. Reduction of Liability	251	(3)
IV. Intervener without Full Legal Capacity	254	(3)
Chapter 3: Rights and Authority of Intervener
Article 3:101: Right to Indemnification or Reimbursement
Comments
A. Two Core Elements of negotiorum gestio
1. Chapter 3 in overview	257	(1)
2. Reimbursement and indemnification	257	(1)
B. The Claim for Indemnification
3. Indemnification	258	(1)
4. Mode of indemnification	258	(1)
C. The Claim for Reimbursement
5. Reimbursement	258	(1)
D. General Requirements Applicable to Both Claims
6. The intervention must he reasonable hut need not be successful	258	(1)
7. No restriction to situations of emergency	259	(1)
8. Reasonable expenditure	259	(1)
9. Interest on expenditure	259	(1)
10. Expenditure, whether of money of other assets	260	(1)
11. Services	261	(1)
12. Loss of income	261	(1)
Notes	261	(1)
I. The Right to Indemnification	261	(3)
II. The Claim for Reimbursement	264	(4)
Article 3:102: Right to Remuneration
Comments
A. Remuneration of Professionals (Para (1))
1. Should there be a right to remuneration?	268	(1)
2. Underlying policy considerations of the rule	268	(1)
3. Remuneration only for professionals	269	(1)
4. The main policy consideration	269	(1)
5. "undertaken in the course of the intervener's profession or trade"	269	(1)
6. Non-profit organisations	270	(1)
7. Reasonableness	270	(1)
B. Quantum of Remuneration (Para (2))
8. The usual price	270	(1)
9. "so far as reasonable"	270	(1)
Notes
I. The Foundation of the Claim to Remuneration	271	(4)
II. Quantum of Remuneration	275	(1)
Article 3:103: Right to Reparation
Comments
A. The Claim to Reparation for Concomitant Damage
1. Policy considerations	276	(1)
2. Need for regulation	276	(1)
3. Consideration of the principal's interests	276	(1)
4. Relationship to tort law	277	(1)
B. The Individual Requirements of the Claim
5. A strict liability outside the law of tort	277	(1)
6. Reparable damage	277	(1)
7. Damage suffered by third parties in consequence of the intervener's death	278	(1)
8. General limits of the principal's liability	278	(1)
9. Protection against danger	278	(1)
10. Questions of causation	278	(1)
11. Damage suffered in acting	278	(1)
12. Created or significantly increased risk (limb (a))	279	(1)
13. Reasonable proportion between the danger to the principal and the risk incurred by the gestor (limb (b))	279	(1)
14. "so far as foreseeable"	280	(1)
15. Intervener's contributory fault	280	(1)
Notes	280	(4)
Article 3:104: Reduction or Exclusion of Intervener's Rights
Comments
A. Acting with animus donandi and Related Cases (Para (1))
1. Legal certainty	284	(1)
2. No waiver of rights	285	(1)
3. The other rules of the law of benevolent intervention remain applicable	285	(1)
4. The scope of para (1)	285	(1)
B. Reduction of Liability on Grounds of Equity (Para (2))
5. General	286	(1)
6. Scope	286	(1)
7. Reasons to reduce or exclude the principal's liability	286	(1)
8. Joint danger	286	(1)
9. The principal's economic capacity	286	(1)
10. The intervener can reasonably obtain redress from another	287	(1)
11. Rights against an insurer	287	(1)
12. Burden of proof	288	(1)
Notes
I. Acting with animus donandi	288	(4)
II. Reduction of Liability on Grounds of Equity	292	(2)
Article 3:105: Obligation of Third Party to Indemnify or Reimburse the Principal
Comments
1. Purpose of the rule	294	(1)
2. Rights in negotiorum gestio and in tort law	295	(1)
3. Tortfeasor and gestor	295	(1)
Notes	295	(2)
Article 3:106: Authority of Intervener to Act in the Name of the Principal
Comments
A. Third Party Relations
1. Three different situations	297	(1)
2. Conclusion of a contract in the gestor's own name	297	(1)
3. Engagement of third parties without conclusion of a contract	297	(1)
4. Conclusion of a contract in the principal's name	298	(1)
B. The Intervener's Power of Representation
5. Considerations of legal policy	298	(1)
6. Relation to the PECL rules on representative authority	298	(1)
7. Transactions covered	299	(1)
8. "in so far as this is reasonable to benefit the principal"	299	(1)
C. Unilateral Acts (Para (2))
9. Third party protection	299	(1)
Notes	300
Annexes
Abbreviations	309	(34)
Tables of Codes and Statutes	343	(22)
Table of UK arc Irish Cases	365	(14)
Table of Treaties and Enactments of the European Union	379	(1)
Principles of European Contact Law	380	(1)
Table of Literature Cited in Abbreviated Form	381	(2)
Index	383