Civil Contracts

The average term for a civil trial of medium complexity at the lower or higher court is 8-18 months at first instance. Appeal adds another 6-12 months, and second appeal (when admissible) another 6-12 months.

Factors that prolong the trial: number of parties, requested technical expert reports (medico-legal, accounting, topographic), international correspondence, procedural challenges.

Special procedures such as payment order are much faster — 30-60 days.

Unilateral termination is possible only in cases provided by law or contract. Most frequent grounds:

• Express resolutory clause of degree IV — clause expressly providing that termination operates by law upon non-performance
• Delay in performance after putting in default
• Definitive fortuitous impossibility of performance

Caution: incorrect termination triggers liability for damages. We always recommend a preliminary legal consultation and drafting of formal notification, which may have effect with or without subsequent trial.

These are two distinct remedies:

• Nullity — sanction striking the contract for shortcomings at the moment of conclusion (lack of consent, illicit object, immoral cause). It has retroactive effect, as if the contract had not existed. Limitation period: 3 years (relative) or imprescriptible (absolute).
• Rescission — sanction for non-performance of the contract after valid conclusion. Has similar retroactive effect, but the premise is different — the contract was valid, only the opposing party did not fulfill obligations.

Practical difference: in nullity the evidence concerns the moment of conclusion; in rescission — the parties' subsequent behavior.

Advances paid in pre-contracts (especially in real estate transactions) are frequently lost. Protection is built through clear contractual clauses:

• Nature of the advance — earnest money (penalizing in case of withdrawal) vs simple advance (refundable)
• Suspensive conditions — financing approved, authorizations obtained, favorable final due diligence
• Term for concluding the definitive contract — with clear consequences upon exceedance
• Real guarantees — mortgage on the promised property, pledge on other assets

For transactions over 50,000 EUR, we also recommend depositing the advance in a notarial escrow account — release only upon fulfillment of conditions.

Force majeure (Article 1351 Civil Code) is any external, unforeseeable, absolutely invincible and inevitable event that totally or partially prevents contractual performance. Examples: natural disasters, war, embargo, unforeseeable legislative changes.

Effects:

• Suspension of obligations for the duration of the cause
• Total exemption from liability for non-performance
• Possible termination if the impossibility is definitive

Caution: COVID-19 pandemic was variably qualified by courts — sometimes force majeure, sometimes only fortuitous case with contractual adaptation. A well-drafted force majeure clause resolves these ambiguities in advance, defining exactly what events it covers and what procedures apply.