Article 1143 Civil Code: Vices of Consent Explained

Extract

[...] But in this ruling, the first civil chamber retains the term 'economic constraint' rather than 'dependence'. However, there are other types of dependencies, such as legal dependence, which refers to situations in which one party is dependent on the other from a legal point of view, i.e. the 'weaker party' is dependent on the 'stronger party' to conclude the said contract or for other acts that require the competence of the stronger party. Therefore, the stronger party can operate a blackmail that will push the weaker party to conclude when they would not have done so without this blackmail with regard to a legal link. [...]

[...] Thus it may seem coherent to question the following question: to what concepts does the notion of state of dependence presented by article 1143 of the Civil Code as a new case of violence by the 2016 contract law reform refer? To answer this problem, we will focus on the way the state of dependence is presented in the article, to establish this new case of violence, three conditions must be met, which we will study successively. The article also contains a modification made by the ratification law, which comes to interpret and clarify the article. [...]

[...] The lawyer then sues the association for restitution of the sums paid. An appeal is lodged and grants the lawyer's requests, the association then files an appeal with the Court of Cassation to contest the judgment rendered by the Court of Appeal. The association argues that a lawyer exercising a liberal profession must preserve his independence. Therefore, he cannot claim economic dependence. It is up to the second civil chamber of the Court of Cassation to determine whether the principle of economic dependence can also apply to liberal professions. [...]

[...] The applicant then initiated an action against her employer. An appeal was lodged and the Paris Court of Appeal in a judgment of 12 April 2000 declared that her employment was not in peril when she gave her employer the rights to her work. The former employee then formulated a cassation appeal. It is then up to the first civil chamber of the Court of Cassation to determine whether a threat potentially affecting employment is an impediment to the free nature of consent in contract law. [...]

[...] The text submitted to our analysis is an article of the Civil Code resulting from the 2016 contract law ordinance. It is article 1143 of the Civil Code, which states: 'There is also violence when a party, taking advantage of the state of dependence in which their co-contracting party is with regard to them, obtains from them a commitment that they would not have subscribed in the absence of such coercion and derives a manifestly excessive advantage from it.' Article 1143 is located between article 1142, which provides for violence by a party or a third party as a vice of consent engaging the nullity of the contract; and article 1144, which provides for the time limit for recourse related to the action for nullity. [...]