NOTES ON THE ASSIGNMENT OF CONTRACT IN THE NEW ROMANIAN CIVIL CODE

Abstract

Reduced to its basic functioning, the legal operation of assignment of contract implies a global transfer of the contractual position of one party, assignor, from a contract concluded with the ceded contractor, to a third party, assignee. If the legal operation as such does not seem to raise complications, it was an object of dispute in Romanian civil law even before the New Romanian Civil Code in force since 2011, considering the personal nature of the obligation relationship, especially with regard to the passive element of the obligation. Considering the debates around this topic in the legal doctrine of the Romanian Civil Code of 1864 and following certain arguments advanced in French civil law, the New Romanian Civil Code explicitly recognizes the assignment of contract as a distinct legal figure with specific effects in Articles 1315-1320. This article intends to analyse the legal regime of the assignment of contract, from the debates in the legal doctrine around this topic in both Romanian and other legal systems to the specific legal provisions which address the assignment of contract, starting with the notion of assignment of contract, the form of the assignment, the moment in which the assignment occurs, the effects the transfer has on the assignor, the legal exceptions which can be formulated by the ceded contractor and the warranty obligations of the assignor.