Legal Means of Coping with the Effects of the Emerging Covid-19 Pandemic on Contractual Relations: A Study of French and Lebanese Law
Dr. Ahmed Ishraqia
Associate Professor of Private Law – Faculty of Law and Political Science – Lebanese University
Abstract:
The emerging Covid-19(1) pandemic constitutes an unprecedented health crisis, the effects of which extend to the economy in general and to contractual relationships in particular. Law is considered to be the most effective weapon to counter these effects in the legal field.
This research studies the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on contractual relationships. The most significant consequences are the inability to perform certain obligations and the difficulty of performing others, due to illness and coercive measures taken by the government to limit the spread of the disease. This research adopts a comparative analytical approach to determine the appropriate legal means to deal with the effects of the emerging pandemic on civil and commercial contracts in French and Lebanese civil law.
This paper highlights the existence of a set of appropriate legislative and judicial means in the legal systems in France and Lebanon to counter the effects of this pandemic on contracts, such as force majeure, unforeseen circumstances, and many other. Therefore, it was necessary to determine the conditions for implementing these means and to know the extent of their application to the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.
In addition, the paper discusses how contract parties can include guarantees in their future contracts that make them more immune to this type of crisis, such as force majeure and unforeseen circumstances clauses. The paper also specifies the legal risks that may affect these types of clauses. Finally, the research recommends that the parties include, in their future contracts, mandatory clauses concerned with the resolution of disputes arising from epidemics or the economic effects which result from epidemics, by amicable means, such as renegotiation, conciliation and mediation, due to the speed and simplicity of these procedures, which help preserve and maintain contractual relationships.
Keywords: Covid-19 pandemic, force majeure, unforeseen circumstances, contract dissolution, good faith, legally protected period.