Book1 Chapter03 Title01

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 I. General Principles.

Chapter III. Juristic Acts.

Title I. Disposing Capacity.

Section 104.

• A person is incapable of disposing:
• (1) Who has not completed his seventh year of age;
• (2) Who is in a condition of morbid disturbance of the mental activity incompatible with a free determination of the will, in so far as the condition is not temporary in its nature;
• (3) Who has been interdicted on account of insanity.

Section 105.

• [I] The declaration of intention of a person incapable of disposing is void.
• [II] A declaration is also void which is made in a condition of unconsciousness or temporary disturbance of the mental activity.

Section 106.

• A minor who has completed his seventh year of age is limited in disposing capacity (/) as provided for in 107 to 113.

Section 107.

• A minor requires, for a declaration of intention whereby he does not merely acquire a legal advantage, the approval of his statutory agent.

Section 108.

• [I] If the minor enters into a contract without the necessary approval of his statutory agent the contract is void, unless ratified by the agent.
• [II] If the other party demands the agent to declare whether or not he ratifies, the declaration may be made only to him; a ratification or refusal to ratify declared to the minor before the demand is of no effect. The ratification may be declared only before the expiration of two weeks after receipt of the demand; if it is not given it is deemed to have been refused.
• [III] If the minor has become capable of disposing without limitation, his own ratification takes the place of the ratification of the agent.

Section 109.

• [I] Before ratification of the contract the other party is entitled to revoke it. The revocation may also be declared to the minor.
• [II] If the other party was aware of the minority, he may revoke only if the minor has stated, contrary to the truth, that he had the approval of his agent; even in this case he may not revoke if he knew, at the time the contract was entered into, that the approval had not been given.

Section 110.

• A contract entered into by a minor without the consent of his statutory agent is deemed to be valid ad initio if the minor has effected the performance agreed upon with means entrusted to him for this purpose, or for his free disposal, by the agent or, with his consent, by a third party.

Section 111.

• A unilateral juristic act which the minor enters into without the necessary approval of his statutory agent is void. If the minor enters into such a juristic act with another party with this approval, the juristic act is void if the minor does not produce the approval in writing, and the other party without delay rejects the juristic act for this reason. The right to reject is barred if the agent had given the other party information of his approval.

Section 112.

• [I] If the statutory agent, with the ratification of the Guardianship Court, authorises the minor to carry on business independently, the minor is then capable, without limitation, to do such juristic acts as are within the scope of the business. Juristic acts for which the agent requires the ratification of the Guardianship Court are excepted.
• [II] The authorisation may be revoked by the agent only with the ratification of the Guardianship Court.

Section 113.

• [I] If the statutory agent authorises the minor to enter into service or employment as a labourer, the minor is then capable without limitation to do such juristic acts as relate to the entry into or the cessation of the relation of service or employment of the kind permitted, or to the fulfilment of the obligations arising from such a relation. Contracts for which the agent requires the ratification of the Guardianship Court are excepted.
• [II] The authorisation may be revoked or limited by the agent.
• [III] If the statutory agent is a guardian (s) the authorisation may, if refused by him, be supplied by the Guardianship Court on the application of the minor. The Guardianship Court shall give the authorisation if it is in the interest of the ward.
• [IV] An authorisation given for a single case is deemed, in case of doubt, to be a general authorisation for entering into other relations of the same kind.

Section 114.

• A person who has been interdicted on account of feeble-mindedness, prodigality, or habitual drunkenness, or who has been placed under interim guardianship as provided in 1906, is, in respect to disposing capacity, in the same position as a minor who has completed his seventh year of age.

Section 115.

• [I] If the order of interdiction is annulled in consequence of an action to set it aside, the validity of juristic acts entered into by or with the person interdicted may not be called in question on the ground of the order. The annulment has no effect on the validity of the juristic acts entered into by or with the statutory agent.
• [II] These provisions apply mutatis mutandis if, in the case of interim guardianship, the application for interdiction is recalled or is rejected without any right of appeal, or if the order of interdiction is annulled in consequence of an action to set it aside.