Abuse of the Right of Unilateral Termination in Contract Law
Abuse of the Right of Unilateral Termination in Contract Law

Summary/Abstract: In the present article, we analyse the regulation of the topic of abuse of rights in general in the field of civil law, and in particular the possibility and consequences of such abuse during the unilateral termination of contractual relationships. We follow the historical development of different theoretical foundations by which legislators aimed to define proper use and abuse of rights in different legal systems, distinguishing between solutions inspired by French and German legal models. We then contrast these solutions with the ones adopted by the Hungarian legislator in the past and also in the present. We then analyse the contractual and legal means by which unilateral termination of a contract is barred or discouraged, with special emphasis on the abusive exercise of a discretionary right of the party to that effect. We conclude that the solution adopted by the Hungarian legislator to deal with possible situations of abuse of rights, the ‘venire contra factum proprium’ rule, during its application shall result in the application of sanctions specific to abuse of rights even if the contractual party acted in good faith, but his/her actions caused damages to the other party.

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