SPANISH CIVIL CODE - Noticias Departamento

1 2010 Colecci n: Traducciones del derecho espa olEdita:Ministerio de Justicia- Secretar a General T cnicaNIPO: 051-13-037-4 Traducci n realizada por: D Sof a de Ram n-Laca ClausenActualizaci n realizada por: LinguaserveMaquetaci n: Subdirecci n General de Documentaci n y Publicaciones1 SPANISH CIVIL CODEPRELIMINARY TITLEOn legal rules, their application and effectiveness CHAPTER ONES ources of law Article 1 1. The sources of the SPANISH legal system are statutes, customs and general legal principles. 2. Any provisions which contradict another of higher rank shall be Customs shall only apply in the absence of applicable statutes, provided that they are not contrary to morals or public policy, and that it is proven.

2 4. Legal uses which are not merely for the interpretation of a declaration of will shall be considered customs. 5. General legal principles shall apply in the absence of applicable statute or custom, without prejudice to the fact that they contribute to shape the legal system. 6. Legal rules contained in international treaties shall have no direct application in Spain until they have become part of the domestic legal system by full publication thereof in the SPANISH Official State Gazette. 7. Case law shall complement the legal system by means of the doctrine repeatedly upheld by the Supreme Court in its interpretation and application of statutes, customs and general legal principles.

3 8. The Courts shall have the inexcusable duty to resolve in any event on the issues brought before them, abiding by system of sources set forth herein. Article 2 1. Statutes shall enter into force twenty days after their full publication in the Official State Gazette, unless otherwise provided therein. 2. Statutes may only be repealed by subsequent statutes. Such repeal shall have the scope expressly provided therein, and shall always extend to any provisions of the new statute on the same matter which are incompatible with the prior statute.

4 Mere abrogation of a statute shall not entail recovery of the force and effect of any provisions repealed thereby. 3. Statutes shall not have retroactive effect, unless otherwise provided therein. 2 CHAPTER IIApplication of legal rules Article 3 1. Rules shall be construed according to the proper meaning of their wording and in connection with the context, with their historical and legislative background and with the social reality of the time in which they are to be applied, mainly attending to their spirit and purpose. 2. Equity must be taken into account in applying rules, but the resolutions of the Courts may only be based exclusively on equity when the law expressly allows this.

5 Article 4 1. Where the relevant rules fail to contemplate a specific case, but do regulate another similar one in which the same ratio is perceived, the latter rule shall be applied by analogy. 2. Criminal statutes, exceptional statutes and statutes of temporary nature shall not be applied in cases or times other than as expressly provided therein. 3. The provisions of this code shall be of subsidiary application in matters governed by other statutes. Article 5 1. Unless otherwise provided, for periods stated in number of days, counting from a particular date, the latter shall be excluded from the calculation, which shall begin on the following day; and periods set in number of months or years shall be calculated from date to date.

6 Where on the month of the expiration date there should be no date equivalent to the initial date of the period, the period shall be deemed to expire on the last day of the month. 2. Calculation of periods according to CIVIL law shall not exclude non-business days. CHAPTER IIIG eneral effectiveness of legal rules Article 6 1. Ignorance of the law does not excuse from compliance thereof. Error in law shall only have the effects provided in the law. 2. The voluntary exclusion of applicable law and the waiver of any rights acknowledged therein shall only be valid when they do not contradict the public interest or public policy or cause a detriment to third parties.

7 3. Acts contrary to mandatory and prohibitive rules shall be null and void by operation of law, save where such rules should provide for a different effect in the event of violation. 4. Acts performed pursuant to the text of a legal rule, which pursue a result forbidden by the legal system or contrary thereto shall be considered to be in fraud of the law and shall not prevent the due application of the rule which they purported to avoid. 3 Article 7 1. Rights must be exercised in accordance with the requirements of good faith. 2.

8 The law does not support abuse of rights or antisocial exercise thereof. Any act or omission which, as a result of the author s intention, its purpose or the circumstances in which it is performed manifestly exceeds the normal limits to exercise a right, with damage to a third party, shall give rise to the corresponding compensation and the adoption of judicial or administrative measures preventing persistence in such abuse. CHAPTER IVRules of private international law Article 8 1. Criminal, police and public security statutes shall be binding on all persons within SPANISH territory.

9 2. (repealed). Article 9 1. The personal law applicable to an individual shall be determined by his nationality. Such law shall govern capacity and CIVIL status, family rights and duties and mortis causa succession. A change in personal law shall not affect the coming of age acquired in accordance with the former personal law. 2. The effects of marriage shall be governed by the personal law common to the spouses at the time of the marriage; in the absence thereof, by the personal law or the law of the place of residence of any of them, chosen by both in an authentic instrument executed prior to the marriage ceremony; in the absence of such election, by the law of the place of habitual residence common to both immediately after the ceremony and, in the absence of such residence, by that of the place of the marriage ceremony.

10 Legal separation and divorce shall be governed by the law provided in article 107. 3. Covenants or marriage articles stipulating, amending or replacing the property regime of the marriage shall be valid when they are in accordance with either the law governing the effects of the marriage, or the law of the nationality or habitual residence of either party at the time of execution thereof. 4. The nature and content of filiation, including filiation by adoption, and the relations between parents and their children, shall be governed by the personal law of the child and, if this cannot be determined, the law of his habitual residence.