Book2 Chapter01 Title02

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 I. Scope of Obligations.

Title II. Default of the Creditor.

Section 293.

• A creditor is in default if he does not accept the performance tendered to him.

Section 294.

• The performance must be actually tendered to the creditor in the manner in which it is to be effected.

Section 295.

• A verbal tender by the debtor is sufficient if the creditor has declared to him that he will not accept the performance, or if for effecting the performance an act of the creditor is necessary, é.g., if the creditor has to take away the thing owed. A summons to the creditor to do the necessary act is equivalent to tender of performance.

Section 296.

• If a time according to the calendar is fixed for the act to be done by the creditor, tender is required only if the creditor does the act in due time. The same rule applies if notice is required to precede the act, and the time for the act is fixed in such manner that it may be reckoned by the calendar from the time of notice.

Section 297.

• A creditor is not in default if the debtor is not in a position to effect the performance at the time of tender, or, in the case provided for by 296, at the time fixed for the act of the creditor.

Section 298.

• If the debtor is bound to perform his. part only upon counter-performance by the creditor, the creditor is in default if, though prepared to accept the performance tendered, he does not offer the required counter-performance.

Section 299.

• If the time of performance is not fixed, or if the debtor is entitled to perform before the fixed time, the creditor is not in default by reason of the fact that he is temporarily prevented from accepting the tendered performance, unless the debtor has given him notice of his intended performance a reasonable time beforehand.

Section 300.

• [I] During the default of a creditor his debtor is responsible only for wilful default and gross negligence.
• [II] If a thing designated only by species is owed, the risk passes to the creditor from the moment at which he is first in default by not accepting the thing tendered.

Section 301.

• Upon an interest-bearing money debt the debtor does not have to pay interest during the default of the creditor.

Section 302.

• If a debtor has to hand over the emoluments of an object or to make compensation for them, his liability during the default of the creditor is limited to the emoluments which he actually draws.

Section 303.

• If the debtor is bound to give up the possession of a piece of land, he may relinquish its possession after the occurrence of the creditor's default. The creditor must be previously warned of the relinquishment, unless the warning is impracticable.

Section 304.

• The debtor may, in case of the default of the creditor, demand compensation for the excess of outlay which he has been obliged to incur for the ineffective tender as well as for the custody and preservation of the object owed.