The position of form in contracts with a brief analysis of the developments of French civil law

The consensuality of legal actions as one of the results of the principle of autonomy of will means the freedom of individuals in the way of expressing their will; However, sometimes the legislature, for a variety of purposes, obliges individuals to express their will in a specific way or to include certain formalities in their stated will And while ignoring the principle of consensuality of contracts, by silencing the sanction of breach of the prescribed form, it creates the ground for creating disagreement. As a result, it seems necessary to consider a solution that can be invoked in case of doubt. The amendments to the French Civil Code in 2016, while specifying the principle of Consensuality of contracts, provided for the status of invalidity as a general sanction in violation of the prescribed forms of contracts. Although in Iranian law, the consensuality of contracts as a principle is acceptable and therefore has a status similar to French law, however, in cases where the legal conditions governing the form of the contract are not observed, the contract cannot necessarily be considered void; Because the various goals that lead the legislature to set formalities are more diverse than to be able to invalidate any contract that lacks the necessary form. In addition, such an approach contradicts the need to support the principle of correctness and strict construction of exceptional laws. From this point of view, there seems to be a significant difference between Iranian law and French law.