Quasi-contracts are purely voluntary acts from which result an obligation on the part of the person who benefits from them without being entitled to do so, and sometimes an obligation on the part of their author towards others. The quasi-contracts governed by this subtitle are business management, undue payment and unjust enrichment.
A person who, without being obliged to do so, knowingly and usefully manages the business of another, without the knowledge or opposition of the master of that business, is subject, in the performance of the legal and material acts of his management, to all the obligations of an agent.
He is bound to exercise all the care of a reasonable person in the management of the business; he must continue the management until the master of the business or his successor is able to provide for it. The judge may, depending on the circumstances, moderate the compensation due to the master of the business because of the faults or negligence of the manager.
A person whose business has been usefully managed must fulfil the commitments entered into in his interest by the manager. He reimburses the manager for expenses incurred in his interest and compensates him for any damage he has suffered as a result of his management. Sums advanced by the manager bear interest from the day of payment.
The ratification of the management by the master is equivalent to a mandate.
The personal interest of the manager in taking on the business of others does not exclude the application of the rules of business management. In this case, the burden of commitments, expenses and damages is shared in proportion to the interests of each in the common business.
If the manager’s action does not meet the conditions of business management but nevertheless benefits the master of that business, the master must indemnify the manager according to the rules of unjust enrichment.
Any payment presupposes a debt; what has been received without being due is subject to restitution. Restitution is not admitted in respect of natural obligations which have been voluntarily discharged.
Any person who mistakenly or knowingly receives something that is not due to him must return it to the person from whom he received it unduly.
A person who by mistake or under duress has paid the debt of another may bring an action for restitution against the creditor. Nevertheless this right ceases in the case where the creditor, as a result of the payment, has destroyed his title or abandoned the securities which guaranteed his claim. Restitution may also be claimed from one whose debt has been paid by mistake.
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is a Registered Trademark of
PETROFF LAW FIRM (SELARL LEGASTRAT)
182, rue de Rivoli
75001, Paris France
RCS Paris n°814433470
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is a Registered Trademark of
PETROFF LAW FIRM (SELARL LEGASTRAT)
182, rue de Rivoli
75001, Paris France
RCS Paris n°814433470
Paris Bar Registration n° (Toque) C2396
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