The main sources of a civil juridical relation

The Juridical Act

The civil juridical act is an expression of somebodys will made with the intention to create or to
modify a civil juridical relation.
There are 2 meanings of the expression: juridical act.
The expression of somebodys juridical will (the negotium sense)
It is the written statement (the instrumentum sense)
E.g.: Civil code provides that the acceptance of an inheritance may be implied or expressed. It is
expressed whenever the successor concludes an act in an authentic form in order to acquire the
inheritance. The word act is used in instrumentum sense.
The same acceptance may be concluded in an implied form whenever the successor makes an act
which can be concluded only by a person who has a successor quality.
There are several classifications of juridical acts:
Unilateral acts. It is an act that involves the expression of a single will. There is only one
person expressing the intent to create juridical effects (e.g.: the acceptance of an inheritance,
the offer to conclude a contract, the acceptance of a succession)
Bilateral acts. It is an agreement between 2 or more persons with distinguished interests.
The bilateral acts are contracts. A contract may involve an exchange of promises in
which two parties agree that each will perform a certain obligation in a certain future.
Such an exchange is known as a bilateral contract (e.g.: sale contract). If there is no such
exchange, and only one part assumes obligations, the contract is unilateral. E.g.: donation
(unilateral contract but bilateral act), the loan (2 will but 1 obligation)
If we take into consideration the goal had in view by the parties concluding the act we can have:
Acts made by onerous title an act in which each party promises an economic benefit to
the other in exchange of another economic benefit.
Acts made by gratuitous title in it one party promises to the other party an economic
benefit without expecting in exchange any promise.
Most of the unilateral contracts are concluded with a gratuitous title and most of the bilateral
contracts are concluded with an onerous title.
E.g.: A deposit contract It is a unilateral contract as long as it is concluded with gratuitous
title. It can become a bilateral contract if it is concluded with an onerous title.
There are some exceptions.
E.g.: Loan contract It is a unilateral contract if it is concluded with gratuitous title. If it is
concluded with onerous title this means it has interest and it is still a unilateral contract.
Acts made by onerous title may be subdivided into:
Commutative acts are those in which both parties know from the very beginning, from the
moment of conclusion of the act which are their mutual obligations.
Aleatory acts the parties dont know from the beginnings which are their obligations
because they depend on an external event (e.g.: insurance contract, life annuity renta
viagera).

Acts concluded with gratuitous title can be subdivided into:

Gifts a voluntary transfer of goods from a patrimony to another
Acts of benevolence (acte dezinteresate) is a favor made by a person to another without
the decreasing the patrimony of the former (e.g.: deposit contract the gratuitous title act
of benevolence)
If we consider the effect of the act we may have:
Constitutive acts constitute a right that doesnt previously exist. It constitutes a new right
(e.g.: the mortgage contract)
Translative acts are the ones that transfer a right, a preexisting right (e.g.: sale contract,
exchange contract, etc.)
Declarative acts are the ones that consolidate a preexisting right (e.g.: the act by which
the common owners divide the common property into shares)
We also can have :
Consensual act. It is an enforceable one without being requested any formal conditions for
this. Such a contract is enforceable by simple agreement. They constitute the rule in our law.
Formal acts. They are enforceable only if there are observed some additional formal
conditions other than the simple consent (e.g.: mortgage, selling the land).
Real acts. They can be enforced only if goods were delivered by one party to another.
Therefore the deliverance of the goods is requested not only to perform the act, but to
conclude it. (e.g.: the deposit contract, loan contract)
The validity conditions of the juridical act:
The consent
The object
The cause
The capacity

The consent. It is the partys intent to conclude the juridical act. In order to be the
basis for a valid contract, the consent has to fulfill the following conditions:
It has to exist. Any act concluded in the absence of the consent will be declared new and
void
It has to be externalized. The consent has to result from the words of the party or even from
his/her actions.
It has to be expressed by a person who is mentally competent to conclude the act.
It has to be expressed by a person who really intends to engage himself in a juridical
relation
It has to be genuine.
According to our Civil Code there is no valid consent. If the consent was given because of
mistake, was taken by force of procured by fraud.