The obligation of unilateral actions is a design that allows to consolidate in the law and in practice the will of one person as a source of civil rights and obligations.
Varieties of Obligations
Obligations are legal relations in which there are two parties - the creditor and the debtor. The first side has the right, the second - the obligation. For example, the seller is obliged to transfer property to the buyer. However, in practice, everything is more complicated. Both parties are both a creditor and a debtor, because the buyer also has obligations to the seller.
The obligation itself may consist in anything: the transfer of money, property, performance of work, the provision of services, the obligation to refrain from certain actions, etc.
The concept of an obligation from unilateral actions includes the commission of actions by one person who, according to the law, entail the consequences provided for by him. An example of one of the forms of such legal relations is the rescue of another's property without an earlier agreement.
Another variation is a deal with specified conditions. Here there are targeted actions of a particular person, implying the achievement of the expected result. Conditions are set by the sole initiator. All other persons have only one choice: to give their consent and accept the offer or refuse it.
Features of legislative regulation
The peculiarities of civil legal relations are that they fall under regulatory standards, sometimes not related to the same institutions. For example, the preparation of a will refers to the law of succession, harm is regulated by another group of norms.
Issuance of a bill is affected by the rules governing the securities market. This is the international unified law on bills, and the Federal Law "On Regulation of the Securities Market" and other regulations. There are only a few articles on securities in the Civil Code.
However, in general, obligations arising from unilateral actions are an integral part of civil law.
The unilateral obligations discussed below are taken from the Civil Code.
Types of Unilateral Obligations
An agreement is an agreement of at least two persons, unilateral obligations for their occurrence imply the will of one person, as with saving the property, as a result of which obligations arise to the owner, which he did not plan to assume.
Another example is a will. The testator expressed his will regarding his property in the event of death, but the potential heir remains the choice: to accept the opportunity or not.
Obligations from unilateral actions can be divided into three groups and they are:
- arise from circumstances prescribed by law;
- arise due to the intentional actions of a person (games, bets, competition, etc.) are a unilateral transaction;
- arise from legitimate or unlawful actions.
Legal actions are those that are prescribed by law or not prohibited by it.
Speaking of illegal actions, in particular, indicate illegal actions, as a result of which the injured person has the right to demand compensation for material and (or) moral damage. The guilty person becomes a party in a relationship in which he has only duties without any rights.
General Features
Thus, the general characteristic of obligations from unilateral actions is as follows:
- unilateral action is performed in favor of other persons without their consent;
- the source is a one-way transaction or action prescribed by law;
- the persons involved acquire only new rights, as a rule, the occurrence of obligations is excluded.
What does the law provide?
The legislation contains a small list of obligations from unilateral actions:
- public promise of rewards;
- public competition;
- games and betting;
- acting in the interest of others without instructions;
- Actions from the Civil Code section on inheritance.
Other legislative acts may include obligations from unilateral actions, such as, for example, a bill mentioned in the Civil Code.
Promise reward
According to the Civil Code, the obligation arises in connection with the promise to pay a reward in cash or in another form for the committed actions. An important nuance - it should be possible to identify the person who made the promise. An example is the promise of a reward for a find, valuable item or animal.
If there is no confidence in the authorship of the application, the person who wants to receive the award has the right to receive preliminary written confirmation. Its absence in the absence of reliable evidence deprives the right to claim a reward.
If the action is completed before the announcement of the award about it has been made, the obligation to pay the award continues to be valid.
If the conditions for receiving the award are fulfilled by several persons at the same time or it is not possible to establish which of them did it first, the award is distributed equally. The conditions may provide for another way to distribute the reward.
A waiver of a promise is permitted at any time, unless otherwise specified in the announcement. If, prior to the refusal, the respondents managed to incur expenses, the initiator of the announcement is obliged to reimburse them. This emphasizes the peculiarity of civil relations - the desire to maintain a balance of interests groan.
Competition
A competition is considered an announcement about the payment of cash or other rewards to a person who has successfully completed the work or achieved another significant result. It should have a socially useful character.
The competition can be closed and open, in the first case, the invitation is sent to specific individuals, in the second - the announcement is made in the press, and it sets out the conditions for participation in the competition.
Are conditions for a public tender changing? Obligations from unilateral actions are not violated if changes to the conditions of the tender are made during the first half of the time allotted for sending applications. The announcement is made in the same form as the invitation to participate in the competition.
If the participant learned about the changes late through no fault of his own, the initiator or organizer of the competition is obliged to pay compensation.
The court has the right to exempt the organizer from payment of compensation if he proves that the work was not performed in connection with the competition or the application obviously did not meet the conditions of the competition.
What information should be provided to potential participants?
- essence of the task;
- deadlines for its implementation;
- order of sending to the organizer;
- assessment criterion;
- the procedure and timing for publishing the results.
The results of the work are returned to the bidders, unless otherwise specified in the conditions of the competition.
Participation in games and betting
If we talk about games and betting, obligations from unilateral actions, here have one feature. Money that was spent on games is not refundable and it is forbidden to go to court.
An exception is participation in games or betting, subject to the existence of misconception, deception, threat or violence.
In transactions for the payment of money in connection with changes in prices for services, goods or securities, it is allowed to file a claim if one of the participants in the transaction is a legal entity licensed for exchange trading.The relevant transaction should be executed in accordance with the exchange rules.
Bets or lotteries are allowed to be held by persons licensed to conduct such activities.
The fact of a bet or participation in the lottery is confirmed by a ticket, receipt or other similar document.
Winnings are paid out no later than 10 days after the announcement of the winners or at any other time specified by the rules for participation in games.
Protecting someone else's interest
Actions of this kind mean that a person saves someone else's property or even life, or assumes the fulfillment of obligations of a legal nature without any agreement with the debtor.
These provisions only affect the actions of private individuals; they do not apply to state or municipal employees.
An interested person should receive information about what happened. It is best to send a notification letter or inform about your actions in another way, which ensures that the fact of sending the message is recorded.
If the person in the interests of which they acted has expressed approval, the features of civil legal relations further provide for the inclusion of the provisions on actions in the interests of others by way of order.
A person who has taken actions in the interests of others cannot claim compensation for damage if he has suffered it because of his actions committed after disapproval was expressed.
Expressed disapproval removes the obligation to preserve property from the actor.
Refusal of assistance in the event of a life threat or in the case of an obligation to provide financially has no legal significance.
Compensation is due in cases provided by law, contract or business rules.
On actions in the interests of others, a report is drawn up indicating income, expenses and other losses.
In the field of inheritance
Inheritance law offers many examples of unilateral actions that serve as sources of obligations.
Testament - the will of a person about the fate of his property in case of death. Compliance with the form (notarization) and the fulfillment of other conditions of the law makes it a full-fledged basis for the emergence of the rights and obligations of other people in the future. Under one condition - acceptance of the inheritance. Acceptance of an inheritance is the same for the right of inheritance both by law and by will.
These actions are expressed in two forms:
- filing an application with a notary public;
- performance of actions confirming the acceptance of property.
Testamentary refusal - the right to use real estate owned by the heir on the conditions established by the will.
Thus, the rules of the Civil Code on inheritance contain examples of unilateral actions that give rise to obligations if certain conditions are met.
Is there anything else
The legislation governing civil matters is distinguished by one interesting feature. It permits to go beyond the requirements in the absence of a direct prohibition on this.
For example, the parties are given the right to enter into an agreement not prescribed by law. The rules on any institution of civil law offer several options for behavior or give the right to act at one’s discretion in the absence of a ban on them.
This is also the case with obligations from unilateral actions. In this case, there is a risk of claims from regulatory authorities, in particular, the Federal Tax Service.
However, as a rule, all possible options are listed in the law and there are no difficulties for participants in civil turnover.