Legal Framework for Contract Promises: A Comparative Judicial- Jurisprudence Study in light of Algeria’s Civil Law of 2005 and the New French Contracts Act of 2016
Prof. Belhadj Al Arabi
Professor of Civil Law – Faculty of Law – King Abdulaziz University – Jeddah – KSA
Abstract:
The promise by contract is a prominent model for the agreements that pave the way for contracting, which may permeate the stage of contract negotiations. It is one of the temporary preliminary contracts that may precede the conclusion of the desired final contract intended by the two parties. If the one promised to him in the future expresses his desire to do so, within the agreed period. A promise is a contract, even if it is in itself a contract, in which the will of the one who promises meets the will of the one who is promised to him. However, it is not the contract intended in the end by the two contracting parties, rather it is one of the premises of the promised contract, so long as the one promised to him has not yet expressed his satisfaction.
The promise of contracting still raises to this day multiple scientific and practical problems, mainly related to determining its concept, content, and forms, its nature, conditions and legal provisions, and the difficulties of implementing it in the event of a dispute between the two parties, in addition to the type and scope of civil liability resulting from the promisor’s breach of what he had committed to on the specified date, without legitimate justification, or an acceptable serious reason.
The current study is a jurisprudential attempt, related to researching some of the problems of the promise to contract in the previous stage preceding the intended final contract, as well as the nature and provisions of the promise of preference, which is a special image of the promise to contract viewed in light of the new amended Algerian Civil Law Code of 2005 as a model, the rules of Islamic jurisprudence, and comparative legal systems, especially the new French contracts law in force since 2016, and the latest practical jurisprudence of the Arab and French courts of cassation, collecting, limiting, treating and scrutinizing them, in terms of jurisprudence and judicial, is extremely difficult.
Keywords: preliminary contract, final contract, contract negotiations, promise of preference, contract in stages, offer by contract.