Reason for retention
The reason for retention is a term from the area of enrichment law . It denotes such a legal reason for the acquisition of an asset position, which includes that the assignment of the item to the assets of the enriched person should be final, i.e. not to be reversed due to the property rights of the previous owner of the item.
In particular, the view taken by Karl Larenz and Claus-Wilhelm Canaris on the relationship between performance conditions and non-performance conditions is based on the reason for retention as the essential feature of the doctrine of conditions: if someone acquires a thing or a right on the basis of a legal provision that represents a reason for retention (e.g. due to a purchase in good faith according to § 932 BGB), the legal system wants to assign this item to him at the expense of the previous owner. So he should keep the increase in wealthcan. Since the legal reason that leads to the acquisition of property is therefore a reason for retention, a non-performance condition of the previous owner against the new owner is excluded; processing is only possible within the framework of the existing service relationships.
However, if a provision does not constitute a reason for retention, but is only intended to clarify the ownership structure without wanting to change the financial situation, a settlement in the non-performance relationship comes into question. An example of this is the acquisition of ownership of a thing through processing according to § 950 BGB: the processor acquires the property and is also allowed to keep it, but must surrender the increase in assets that he has thereby gained to the previous owner according to § 951 BGB . He should therefore not be allowed to keep the increase in assets , so that the provision of § 950 BGB does not constitute a reason for retention.
