Paragraph Fourth: Defects of Consent

Article 203

Article 203: When the error concerns the nature of the contract or the identity of the object of an obligation, it prevents the formation of the act, which is therefore non-existent.

Article 204

Art. 204 - Consent is simply vitiated and the contract is only annulable: 1 - When the error relates to the substantial qualities of the thing; 2 - When, in contracts concluded on account of the person, it relates either to identity or essential qualities of that person; 3 - When it relates to the effectiveness of the cause of an obligation (commitment subscribed due to a pre-existing obligation believed to be civil and which was only natural).

Article 205

Article 205 - Error is irrelevant to the validity of the contract when it is not decisive and particularly when it relates: 1 - To the accidental or secondary qualities of the thing or person; 2 - To the value of the thing, except in the case of abnormal diminution (Article 214); 3 - To the simple motives that led one of the parties to enter into the contract; 4 - To numbers, a calculation: correction is then mandatory, but the contract remains valid.

Article 206

Article 206 - Error of law is taken into account and vitiates consent as error of fact.

Article 207

Article 207 - Error as to the substantial qualities of the thing produces its decisive effect only if it was common to both parties and had penetrated into the agreement; but error as to the person is taken into account even in cases where it would be purely unilateral.

Article 208

Article 208 - Deception does not absolutely negate the existence of consent, but it vitiates it and leads to the nullity of the contract if it is the motivating factor and the reason for the deceived party to enter into the contract. However, incidental deception that resulted in a change to the contract's terms and was not the motivating factor for its creation, only allows the deceived party to claim compensation for damages.

Article 209

Article 209 - Determining fraud does not render the contract null and void unless it was committed by one of the parties to the detriment of the other; however, fraud practiced by a third party is itself invalid if the party benefiting from it had knowledge of it at the time of the contract's formation; in all other cases, it only gives rise to an action for damages, to the benefit of the victim and against its author.

Article 210

Article 210 - A contract concluded under the pressure of fear inspired by physical violence or threats affecting the person or property of the debtor, their spouse, ascendant, or descendant, is null and void, without distinction as to whether this pressure was caused by one of the contracting parties, a third party, or external circumstances outside the contractual circle. However, in these two latter scenarios, the victim who intends to extricate themselves from the transaction may be required to indemnify the other party if that party is acting in good faith and equity demands it.

Article 211

Article 211 - Fear vitiates consent only if it was decisive. To assess its nature and influence, account must be taken of the victim's personality (age, sex, education, social status).

Article 212

Article 212 - Reverential fear (Fear inspired by a person due to the authority that belongs to them and the respect owed to them) towards a father, mother or other ancestor does not suffice to vitiate the contract. It is the same with the use of legal remedies, in as much as such use is legitimate, namely if it tends solely to obtain what is due to one who resorts to it.

Article 213

Lesion consists of a disproportion and lack of balance between the obligations imposed for the benefit of one party and the obligations imposed on the other party in contracts of exchange.

Article 214

Article 214 - In principle, the injury does not vitiate the consent of the injured party; it is otherwise and the contract becomes null: 1 - When the injury is suffered by a minor; 2 - When, suffered by an adult, it presents this double peculiarity of being shocking and abnormal in regard to common usage, and can be explained from the part of its beneficiary as the intention to take advantage of the distress, carelessness or lack of experience of his victim. In the extent indicated above, even aleatory contracts are susceptible to being annulled due to injury.

Article 215

Article 215 - Every person who has reached the age of eighteen years is capable of contracting if she/he is not declared incapable by a law text.

Article 216

Article 216 - The acts passed by a person completely lacking discernment are non-existent (children, the insane). The acts concluded by an incapable person but possessing discernment are simply annulable (minor who has reached the age of reason): nullity cannot be proposed by the person who dealt with the incapable individual, but only by that incapable person themselves, their representative, and their heirs. When a contract passed by a minor possessing discernment was not subject to any particular form, nullity can only be obtained by them if they prove they suffered a loss; if a special formal requirement existed, nullity is incurred as a result, without the claimant needing to establish the existence of a loss.

Article 217

Article 217 - A minor who is properly authorized to engage in commerce or industry cannot rely on the preceding provisions: for the needs and within the limits of his business, he is treated as a major.

Article 218

Article 218 - The legal disability of convicted individuals subject to a legal interdiction may be opposed by any interested party.

Article 219

Article 219 - Whoever alleges the existence of a defect must prove it; the integrity of consent is presumed, as well as the capacity of the parties.

Article 220

Article 220 - The rules applicable to the form of contracts are specified for each category; in the absence of such specification, the agreement is formed by the sole accord of the wills. However, it may happen that it does not produce all its effects and only becomes opposable to third parties upon the completion of certain public measures of publicity, which are outside those that would allow it to extend beyond the circle of the parties and their universal successors. On the other hand, if the parties have agreed to give the act a special form that the law does not require, for example, written form, the contract is concluded and produces its effects, even inter partes, only when this form has been satisfied.