Arrhal contract

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

An arrhal contract is a specific type of contract that can be found mainly in the ancient oriental and Hellenistic legal systems, but also appeared in the Middle Ages. It is to be distinguished from the real and formal contract. The Earnest payment does not come through delivery of the thing or formal promise about, but if an encore , arrha , from lat. Arra was handed over. The contracts concluded by means of Arrha were mostly sales contracts.

Hellenism

In Greek and Hellenistic law, the purchase contract was usually designed as a cash purchase, the buyer paid the purchase price, the seller handed over the item immediately. In order to establish an obligation between the contracting parties in cases where this was not possible, one resorted to the Arrha (old Greek arrabon ). The buyer gave the seller a cash deposit or often a ring when the contract was signed. If the buyer could not or would not pay later, the seller did not need to hand over the purchased item and could keep the arrha. If the seller did not pay, the buyer could claim twice the value of the arrha with a special lawsuit.

Roman law

The arrha was known in Roman law , but it was not of great importance. Unlike in Hellenistic law, a contract could be made actionable through a formal promise .

middle Ages

On the other hand, until the late Middle Ages , the bonus was found again if the sales contract could not be fulfilled immediately. Mostly, however, this is only given as a symbol that is immediately given away by those involved (god's penny) or drunk (buying wine). In the latter case, the extra act no longer served as a means of coercion, but served as a proof. If someone drank the bonus together with the contractual partner, he could remember the process.

Development in modern times

The legal institution has been taken over both in Section 908 of the ABGB as a deposit and in Section 336 of the BGB as a bonus. But it no longer has any practical significance. The function of holding the parties to fulfill the contract is usually regulated today by means of a contractual penalty .

literature