Invalidity, Inefficacy, and Sanction in the Private Civil Law Tradition. On the loss of Contractual Effects due to the Inefficacy of Contracts.
Time and date: Thursday 28 August, 2024, 12-1pm (Brisbane Time)
Location: Law School Board Room (W353), Level 3, Forgan Smith Building, The University of Queensland, St Lucia
Abstract
In the civil law tradition, the theory of legal or juridical acts has had significant reception and influence in legal doctrine. In this context, considering the contract as the principal legal act under scrutiny, the various doctrines according to which contracts lose their effects are usually classified as involving not just inefficacy, but also sanction. The concepts of nullity (void and voidable contracts), unenforceability (flowing from a party’s lack of privity), termination, and time-bar (among others), are hence all referred to as ‘sanctions’ of inefficacy. The classification of each of these regimes of inefficacy as a ‘sanction’ affects the way in which it is interpreted.
In this presentation, I seek to provide a better explanation of these doctrines, by using a number of conceptual distinctions drawn from legal theory—such as the distinction between directive norms and constitutive norms, the concept of private powers, and the broader array of Hohfeld's fundamental legal conceptions of legal relations. The aim of this approach is not only to stop labelling all of these doctrines as sanctions, but also to move away from the consequences of that classification.
About the speaker
Rodrigo Parra Salamanca is currently a doctoral student at the University of Girona and Researcher at the Cátedra de Cultura Jurídica. He is a graduate of the University of Chile and qualified legal practitioner in Chile. His main research interests lie in private law and legal theory.
About Australian Centre for Private Law Events
The mission of the Australian Centre for Private Law is to foster the development and understanding of the private law through advanced theoretical, doctrinal, empirical and historical research, and the dissemination of that research through education and professional outreach. By supporting the work of its Fellows, the ACPL seeks to promote research in all areas of private law and to establish itself as a research centre of national and international importance. The core initiatives of ACPL are:
Research: To advance a deeper understanding of the structure, principles and policies of the private law through advanced theoretical, comparative, and empirical analysis.
Education: To promote, facilitate and disseminate the results of that research for the benefit of Australia’s social and economic fabric.
Professional Outreach: To engage the judiciary and members of the legal profession in discussion about the values, goals and methods of private law and the respective roles of the judiciary, the legal profession and the academy in the interpretation and reform of private law.
The ACPL embraces all branches of private law, including the law of contract, torts, trusts, equity, property, unjust enrichment, including theoretical and jurisprudential dimensions and contextual applications thereof.