Legal fact

A legal fact is any event that occurs in nature or in man that has the ability to originate legal effects . These effects may include aspects such as the creation, modification, transfer, transmission or termination of a right. We can say that the essence of all the positive law of the different cultures that exist are found in legal acts , since these are the most elementary human manifestations when we refer to producing effects and when we talk about some of the rules of coexistence to achieve a harmonious life within society.

Definition of legal fact

A legal fact is any event to which the legal system gives the virtue of producing, by itself or through the union of others, a legal effect , in other words, the acquisition , loss or modification of a right . The legal fact is related to the factual assumption to designate a group of situations that are necessary for a legal rule to be applied.

Characteristics of a legal fact

The main characteristics of a legal fact are the following:

• They are facts that produce or have legal effects .
• They have as a consequence that the fact is born , a right is modified or disappears .
• They are generally not discussed within the civil code .
• One or two parties may intervene in them. When the legal fact is of a single party, it is known by the name of the author .
• They are unilateral and can also be bilateral .
• They have the ability to modify the facts .
• Depending on their origin they can be human or natural .
• Depending on the purpose of the people involved, they can be legal or non-legal acts.

Elements

The elements that a legal fact has are the following:

• Subject : the subject in a legal event is one of the most important elements since it is the author of the act that has been committed.
• Object : the object is the matter or the subject on which the will of the subject is given, whether it is a thing or a fact.
• Cause : this may be the final part that could be hired.
• Form : it is the externalization of the will that the individual has with respect to the object in order of a legal purpose.

Classification

Legal facts are classified as follows:

According to their producing agent, they can be classified into:

• Natural : they arise from nature , such as lightning, hail or an earthquake , which to be legal must cause an obligation . Man can act as a natural agent without will, so it has no legal consequences, for example, who commits damage while under the influence of sleepwalking.
• Humans : they are the work of the human being with an untainted will. They can be lawful , such as a contract; or illegal , such as stealing or killing.
• Simple : only they need an event to generate in the first case rights
• Complex : when they need more than one event .
• Depending on the action or omission, they are classified as positive (killing someone requires doing) or negative (abandoning a person is omitting).
• Simultaneous : when the event occurs in a single period of time , for example, a homicide.
• Depending on the consequences provided by law, they can be extinct : for example, the payment terminates the obligation, or constitutive : the contract gives rise to an obligation
• Impeditive : They hinder the birth of rights or obligations .

How it differs from a legal act

A legal fact occurs when the law links to a situation that has normative consequences and legal acts are events that occur voluntarily to which the law links legal consequences .

Legal fact by country

• Argentina:  in Argentina, the legal fact is discussed in the Civil and Commercial Code of the Nation specifically in article 257, in which it is also said that the legal fact is the event that, according to the legal system , produces the birth, modification or termination of relationships or legal situations.4

Examples

Some examples of legal fact are the following:

• The constitution of a limited liability company (SRL)
• The transfer of a vehicle to a relative, even if there was no money in the transaction.
• The purchase of goodwill by a specific company.
• A summons from creditors during a bankruptcy process.
• The signing of a contract for the provision of an insurance service.
• The transfer of rights to a work of any kind.
• The death .
• The promulgation of a Law .
• A declaration of war .
• A natural catastrophe