The Concept and Effects of Relative Nullity

Relative nullity is one of the sanctions against violating the rules of establishing the contract and is regarded as a known legal entity in the law of France. It is a situation that the legislator has considered in case of violating the rules supporting given party or parties. Hence, he gave them authority to decide about the contract themselves and as far as the beneficial party does not have any protests to the contract, the contract is correct and has its legal effects. However, if the annulment of the contract (on the due date) is assigned to the court at the request of the beneficial party; the contract, except in exceptional cases, has to be annulled from the very beginning to terminate its legal effects. Such a concept does not exist in the traditional law of Iran and we just come to see it in some texts, which are taken from western law. Owing to this fact, the said concept is unfamiliar and ambiguous in the law of Iran and exact understanding of this concept requires an independent and detailed discussion. This important task is not possible except through considering its origin. For this reason, in the present paper, we seek to clarify the definition and meaning of this entity via comparing it with similar concepts and providing the conditions for gaining an exact and deep understanding of it.