Legal Concepts: Facts, Acts, and Businesses
ITEM 13 – THE LEGAL FACT:
A legal fact is an event or condition that triggers specific legal effects as determined by the judicial system. It can involve the modification or termination of a subjective right.
CLASSES:
According to its elements:
- Complex: Involves multiple elements, such as a contract with supply and demand.
- Simple: Involves only one element, such as death.
Depending on your configuration:
- Events: Instantaneous occurrences that are exhausted by themselves, like a signed will.
- State: A more or less permanent condition, such as a person’s disability.
Depending on the nature in fact:
- Incorporation: Creates rights, like a sale.
- Modified: Alters a previously created right.
- Extensive right: Extinguishes a right.
As content:
- Positive: Allows a behavior, like changing a river channel.
- Negative: Consists of an omission, like not using an easement.
According Origin:
- Natural: Occurs by nature.
- Voluntary: Involves conscious human behavior.
ITEM 13 – LEGAL ACTION:
A legal action is a voluntary act that leads to legal consequences. It involves conscious human behavior with the intention of producing legal effects, such as murder, buying, or selling.
CLASSIFICATION:
According to Legality:
- Lawful: Meets the requirements established by law.
- Unlawful: Involves illegal conduct.
Free / Due to:
- Free Acts: Performed voluntarily without legal obligation, like taking a test.
- Acts DUE: Respond to a legal duty imposed by law, like paying taxes.
In Strictly / Declaration will:
- Strict: Voluntary conduct where the person does not expect specific legal effects.
- Statement will: Voluntary acts where the person intends to produce legal effects and assumes responsibility for them.
ITEM 13 – PRIVATE AUTONOMY OF WILL:
Private autonomy of will is the power of individuals to regulate and manage their legal relationships. It is not a source of law but allows individuals to create, modify, or extinguish legal relationships within certain limits.
Article 1255 of the Civil Code recognizes the principle of private autonomy, which applies in the absence of specific laws. However, this autonomy has limitations:
- Legal limits: Private agreements cannot contradict the law. For example, a guardian cannot acquire property from their ward.
- Mandatory and prohibitive laws: These laws establish boundaries for private autonomy.
ITEM 13 – THE LEGAL BUSINESS:
The legal business is a concept developed by legal doctrine to encompass various legal acts, primarily contracts and wills. It is not explicitly defined in the Civil Code but relies on legislation related to these areas.
DOCTRINAL CONSTRUCTION:
Doctrine:
- Theory of will: Emphasizes the manifestation of the parties’ intentions to produce legal and economic effects.
- Modern objective theory: Focuses on the external declaration of the legal act rather than the subjective intentions of the parties.
National Doctrine:
- Majority theory: Requires declared wills, externalized legal consequences, and pre-established schemes for a legal act to be valid.
CLASSES OF LEGAL BUSINESSES:
- Typical / Atypical: Typical businesses are those regulated by the Civil Code, while atypical ones are not explicitly foreseen but are permitted as long as they do not violate public order or morality.
- Unilateral / Bilateral / Plurilateral: Involves one, two, or more parties, respectively.
- Solemn / No solemn: Solemn businesses require specific formalities, while non-solemn ones do not.
- Onerous / Profit / Neutral: Onerous businesses involve an exchange of considerations, while lucrative ones do not. Neutral businesses can be either onerous or lucrative depending on the parties’ agreement.
- Switch / Random: In switch businesses, the provision is predetermined, while in random ones, it depends on chance.
- Equity / No assets: Equity businesses regulate property relations, while non-asset ones deal with personal or family matters.