Book2 Chapter07 Title24

GERMAN CIVIL CODE OF 1896

• Based on the English Translation by: Wang, Chung Hui (1907). The German Civil Code, translated and annotated with historical introduction and appendices. London: Stevens and Sons. [available on Archive.org]

BOOK II. Law of Obligations.

Chapter VII. Particular Kinds of Obligations.

Title XXIV. Unjustified Benefits.

Section 812.

• [I] A person who, through an act performed by another, or in any other manner, acquires something at the expense of the latter without legal ground, is bound to return it to him. He is so bound even if a legal ground originally existing disappears subsequently, or a result originally intended to be produced by an act of performance done by virtue of a juristic act is not produced.
• [II] Recognition of the existence or non-existence of a debt, if made under a contract, is also deemed to be an act of performance.

Section 813.

• [I] The value of an act of performance done for the purpose of fulfilling an obligation may be demanded back even if there was a defence to the claim whereby the enforcement of the claim was permanently barred. The provision of 222, par. 2, remains unaffected.
• [II] If an obligation due on a certain date is fulfilled in advance, the claim for return is barred; the discounting of interim interest may not be demanded.

Section 814.

• The value of an act of performance done for the purpose of fulfilling an obligation may not be demanded back if the person performing knew that he was not bound to effect the performance, or if the performance was in compliance with a moral duty, or the rules of social propriety.

Section 815.

• The claim for return on account of the non-production of the result intended to be produced by an act of performance is barred, if the production of the result was impossible ab initio, and the person performing knew this, or if he has prevented the production of the result in bad faith.

Section 816.

• [I] If a person without title makes a disposition of an object which is binding upon the person having title, he is bound to hand over to the latter what he has obtained by the disposition. If the disposition is made gratuitously, the same obligation is imposed upon the person who acquires a legal advantage directly through the disposition.
• [II] If an act of performance is done for the benefit of & person not entitled thereto, which is effective against the person entitled, the former is bound to hand over to the latter the value of such performance.

Section 817.

• If the purpose of an act of performance was specified in such manner that its acceptance by the recipient constitutes an infringement of a statutory prohibition or is contra bonos mores, the recipient is bound to make restitution. The claim for return is barred if the person performing is in pari delicto, unless the performance consisted in the incurring of an obligation; what has been given for the performance of such an obligation may not be demanded back.

Section 818.

• [I] The obligation to return extends to emoluments derived, and to whatever the recipient acquires either by virtue of a right obtained by him, or as compensation for the destruction, damage or deprivation of the object obtained.
• [II] If the return is impossible on account of the nature of the object obtained, or if the recipient for any other reason is not in position to make the return, he shall make good the value.
• [III] The obligation to return or to make good the value is excluded where the recipient is no longer benefited.
• [IV] After the date of action commenced the recipient is liable under the general provisions.

Section 819.

• [I] If the recipient knows of the absence of legal ground at the time of the receipt, or if he subsequently learns it, he is bound to return from the time of receipt or of acquisition of the knowledge as if an action on the claim for return were commenced at that time.
• [II] If the recipient, by the acceptance of an act of performance, infringes a statutory prohibition or acts contra bonos mores, he is bound in the same manner after the receipt of the performance.

Section 820.

• [I] If a result was intended to be produced by an act of performance, and if the production of such a result was, according to the scope of the juristic act, regarded as doubtful, the recipient is, where the result is not produced, bound to return in the same manner as if action were commenced on the claim for return at the time of the receipt. The same rule applies if the performance was made on a legal ground whose disappearance was regarded as possible according to the scope of the juristic act, and the legal ground disappears.
• [II] The recipient is bound to pay interest only from the time at which he learns that the result has not been produced, or that the legal ground has disappeared; for the return of emoluments he is not bound in so far as he is no longer benefited at that time.

Section 821.

• A person who incurs an obligation without legal ground may refuse performance, even if the claim for release from the obligation has been barred by prescription.

Section 822.

• If the recipient of a benefit transfers such benefit gratuitously to a third party, and if in consequence of this the obligation of the recipient for return of the benefit is excluded, the third party is bound to return the benefit as if he had received it from the creditor without legal ground.