Enrichment Law (Austria)
The enrichment law is a branch of civil law . It is also known as the right of conditionality or right of conditionality . The law of enrichment deals with the reversal of unjustified property shifts. In Roman law, the condictio was the action for the surrender of unjust enrichment. It is regulated in the ABGB .
Property law
Classification and demarcation
In contrast to German civil law, Austrian civil law does not have a systematic right to enrichment, it only recognizes individual claims for restitution. The reason for this lies in different models of property transfer: while under German law one valid mode for the transfer of property rights is sufficient (abstract nature of tradition), Austrian private law follows the doctrine of title and mode (causal nature of tradition). If a valid title is missing or subsequently turns out to be invalid, no transfer of rights takes place at all. In this case, any payments made can be reclaimed with a property suit ( § 366 ABGB) or, if this is uneconomical, with a corresponding performance condition because the legal basis no longer applies ( § 877 ABGB).
Performance conditions only take effect on a subsidiary basis , ie if there are no specific legal provisions for the desired goal, such as grounds for contestation due to deficiencies in the root, rules for delay and warranty as well as claims for damages . The conditions are therefore sometimes referred to as “catch-all”.
The conditional rules of the ABGB are applied analogously to public law issues.
The Austrian ABGB divides the right to enrichment into performance conditions and usage claims. The right to enrichment requires neither damage nor fault . It just has to have been depleted. Compensation can be requested in addition to a condition claim ( § 921 ABGB). Some other laws also contain provisions on enrichment law.
- Performance conditions : The deprived has consciously and purposefully increased the wealth of the enriched (he has "achieved") by z. B. has erroneously paid a non-debt or fulfilled its contractual performance and the contract was subsequently canceled due to a lack of will (according to § 877 ABGB) or defaults ( § 1435 ABGB).
- Usage claims: The deprived suffered a shift in assets (in favor of the enriched) without performance .
- Special legal claims : Reclaiming facts, conditions or claims for use based on laws other than the ABGB.
Performance conditions
Condictio indebiti, § 1431 ABGB
The prerequisites for the offense are:
- Achievement: The deprived has achieved, that is, consciously increased foreign assets.
- Not to blame: The service was provided without legal grounds (no contract).
- mistake
Condictio sine causa, § 877 ABGB
The contract was canceled because of a lack of roots , specifically because of a lack of will (error, cunning, threat) or was void because of illegal or immoral behavior.
Section 877 is extremely relevant in practice, as every contract that is canceled due to contestation of errors is reversed in this way under the law of enrichment.
Condictio ob turpem vel iniustam causam , § 1174 ABGB
Specifies exceptions to a reclaim according to § 877 ABGB. Accordingly, what was given to commit an illegal act (e.g. murder wages, prostitution wages, gifts to illegitimate lovers) cannot be reclaimed, and neither can losses in illegal games of chance. Other services rendered in fulfillment of a void contract can usually be reclaimed, e.g. B. the ransom money paid in the event of extortion or the hush money if a secret is revealed.
Condictio causa finita, § 1435 ABGB
The contract was canceled due to a performance failure , such as B. Subsequent impossibility, delay, rescission as a result of poor performance, or for other reasons such as the occurrence of a condition subsequent. In all cases, the original legal reason was effectively created (no lack of will as in § 877 ), but subsequently ceased to exist.
Like § 877 , § 1435 is also very relevant in practice, since every z. B. because of warranty changed contract is reversed.
Condictio causa data causa non secuta, § 1435 ABGB
Reclaim due to failure of the expected success. In analogy to § 1435 doctrine and jurisprudence grant a condition because the expected success does not occur. A service that is recognizably rendered and received to achieve a specific purpose can be reclaimed if this purpose is not achieved.
Usage claims
Use claim according to § 1041 ABGB
The enriched has used a cause of the deprived without the latter having done it.
Restricted real rights, claims or intellectual property rights are also considered to be a thing (according to § 285 ).
A use can be a use or consumption:
- Consumption: typically consumption of other things (like coal), but e.g. B. also sale of third-party items, collection of third-party claims
- Use: typically use of other people's things, but e.g. B. also prohibited subletting
Usage claims often coincide with claims for damages and property claims (rei vindicatio) .
Used e.g. B. A has B's car (without B's consent), A is enriched by the fact that he has saved a usage fee (e.g. the cost of a rental car), B is damaged by the fact that he B. had to spend railway costs. This shows that the claim for enrichment and compensation for damages pursue very different goals; the right to enrichment offsets the benefits of the enriched, the damage compensation law the damage of the deprived (i.e. injured). The car itself is claimed in the property suit ( § 366 ).
Consumes z. If, for example, A is B's coal, A can only proceed with a claim to use if it is fully consumed. If, on the other hand, A has only consumed part, the rest can be claimed with the property suit.
Entitlement to reimbursement of expenses according to § 1042 ABGB
Anyone who makes an effort for someone else that he or she should have made himself under the law or a contract has the right to claim compensation. This claim is therefore related to that according to § 1041 ABGB. The scope of application is given in particular in those cases in which a third party voluntarily pays maintenance to a person entitled to maintenance and then demands compensation from the person actually liable for maintenance (according to Section 1042 of the Austrian Civil Code).
Special legal claims
- §§ 13a and b Salary Act (excess)
- Section 9 EFZG (recovery of wrongly paid reimbursement amounts)
- Section 86 UrhG (right to appropriate remuneration)
- Section 27 Paragraph 1 Z 1 in conjunction with Paragraph 3 MRG (prohibited replacement)
- Sections 44, 46, Paragraph 1, Item 6 IO (claims for enrichment in bankruptcy)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Heinz Barta et al .: Civil Law - Outline and Introduction to Legal Thought , Chap. V, Unjust enrichment.
- ^ Rudolf Welser: Koziol-Welser Bürgerliches Recht . 12th edition. S. 275 .