[pt] O tema central da tese é o contrato de gestação de substituição. Sua análise está delimitada aos efeitos decorrentes da consideração do seu objeto, se lícito ou ilícito, à luz das regras de direito constitucional e civil do ordenamento brasileiro. O marco teórico é delineado pelas obras de Francisco Cavalcanti Pontes de Miranda – notadamente as noções acerca dos planos do negócio jurídico – e Marcel Mauss – especificamente o Ensaio sobre a dádiva – e a escola de Direito Civil Constitucional – a partir da qual se construiu a análise das categorias que permeiam todo o estudo: dignidade da pessoa humana, autonomia privada e dicotomia entre coisa e pessoa. O objetivo geral foi investigar se o objeto do contrato de gestação de substituição suportaria o conceito de licitude à luz do sistema jurídico de regras e de princípios constitucionais. Consequentemente, três objetivos específicos foram traçados. O primeiro delimitou conceitualmente os termos objeto, licitude e ilicitude na doutrina e na jurisprudência brasileira e constatou que esses conceitos carregam um conteúdo que deve ser adequado com vistas a comportar a nova categoria de contrato – que incorpora aspectos patrimoniais e extrapatrimoniais. O segundo, ao investigar se tais contratos são levados à apreciação do Poder Judiciário, constatou ser afirmativa a indagação. Entretanto, expôs-se que a avaliação feita pelo Poder Judiciário se limita ao reconhecimento ou não da filiação. O terceiro objetivo específico identificou que o Poder Judiciário tem considerado o objeto do contrato de gestação de substituição como lícito, pois se baseia nas diretrizes estabelecidas pela Resolução n. 2.121/2015 do Conselho Federal de Medicina acerca da gestação de substituição gratuita. Diante da situação fática, constatou-se a relativização de conceitos delimitados pela regra jurídica para se alcançar esta ou aquela solução para casos delicados. Nenhuma outra consideração acerca da licitude ou ilicitude do objeto contratual pôde ser estabelecida diante dos casos analisados. / [en] The central theme of the thesis is gestational surrogacy contract. Theanalysis is bounded to the effects arising from the consideration of its object, whether lawful or unlawful according to the rules of constitutional and civil lawof the Brazilian legal system. The theoretical framework is outlined by the works of Francisco Cavalcanti Pontes de Miranda - especially the notions about the legal business plans - and Marcel Mauss - specifically the Essay on the gift - and the school of Constitutional Civil Law - from which it has built an analysis of categories that permeate the whole study: human dignity, personal autonomy and dichotomy between thing and person. The overall objective was to investigate whether the object gestational surrogacy contract would support the concept of legality according to the legal system and constitutional principles. As a result, three specific objectives were outlined. The first conceptually delimited the terms object, legality and illegality in doctrine and Brazilian jurisprudence and found that these concepts carry content that must be appropriate in order to support this new contract category - which incorporates patrimonial and non patrimonial rights. The second, while investigating whether such agreements are taken into account by the Judiciary, it was found an affirmative answer. However, it exposed that the analysis made by the judiciary is limited to the recognition of legitimate filiation. The third specific objective identified that the judiciary has considered the object of gestational surrogacy agreement as lawful contract because it is based on guidelines established by Resolution n. 2.121/2015 of Federal Council of Medicine about the altruistic surrogacy. On the factual situation, there was noted the relativism of concepts delimited by the legal rule in order to be put into perspective of delicate cases. No further consideration about the legality of contractual object could be established before the analysed cases.

Toute législation en matière économique se doit d’être souple et adaptée àl’évolution du monde des affaires. Le droit des sociétés OHADA, de même que celui français,n’échappe pas à ce principe. Très rigide à l’origine, et caractérisé par un ordre publicomniprésent, le droit des sociétés commerciales OHADA est gagné par le mouvement decontractualisation des sociétés, apparu en France depuis les années 1990. Le droit des contratss’est avéré un excellent moyen pour les praticiens d’apporter de la flexibilité au droit dessociétés. Les aménagements conventionnels, ou conventions sociétaires ou encore pactesd’actionnaires permettront aux associés d’adapter les règles légales sociétaires aux besoins deleurs activités économiques. Cession de titres sociaux, droit de vote, pouvoir de représentationdans la société, règlement des différends sont autant de domaines où se manifeste la libertécontractuelle des associés. Au-delà du caractère rigide du droit des sociétés français etOHADA, cette étude permet de rendre compte de l’importance de ces espaces de liberté dontdisposent les associés. Ces pactes d’actionnaires, statutaires ou extrastatutaires, devront êtreencadrés par des critères précis de validité. Aussi, l’efficacité de ces aménagements dépendraen grande partie de la sanction applicable en cas d’inexécution par une des parties de sesobligations. Le dynamisme de la pratique et de la jurisprudence française permettrad’éprouver les solutions posées par le législateur OHADA en la matière. Cette étude participeainsi de l’élaboration d’un régime juridique adapté, permettant de sécuriser ces aménagementsconventionnels, signe d’une contractualisation du droit des société / Any legislation concerning economic matters is expected to be flexible and adaptedto the evolution of business. Company law in the OHADA (Harmonizing Business Law inAfrica Organization) as well as French company law, cannot be excluded from this principal.Although it was very strict to begin with, and characterized by omnipresent public order,company law in the OHADA was caught up by the contractualization movement whichappeared in France in the 1990s. Contract law turned out to be a perfect means forpractitioners to bring flexibility to company law. Contracting adjustments, companyconventions or even shareholder agreements enable shareholders to adapt their legal companyrules to their economic needs. Transferring titles, voting partners, ensuring the power ofrepresentation inside the company, or settling disagreements, are some examples amongst thevariety of situations where the contracting freedom of partners can be seen. Despite therigorous characteristic of French and OHADA company law, this study puts forward theimportance of spaces of freedom that partners can use. These shareholders agreements, eitherstatutory or extra statutory, will be dependent on precise validity criteria. Consequently, theefficiency of these adjustments will mainly depend on the sanction implemented when one ofthe parties does not execute the required obligation. The strength of both the practice andFrench case law will enable to test the proposals set down by the OHADA legislator.Therefore this study will contribute to the development of an adapted judicial system whichwill permit to secure these contracting agreements, as signs of the contractualization ofcompany law

Conclure sur le sujet de la liberté contractuelle en droit administratif français n’est pas chose aisée. Cela dépend, essentiellement, de la façon de poser la problématique. Ainsi, si la question est de savoir si les personnes publiques disposent, à l’instar des particuliers, d’une liberté contractuelle, la réponse, dans le meilleur des cas, est qu’il s’agit d’une liberté à caractère particulier. En effet, en pratique, cette liberté est très restreinte, ses manifestations sont marginales, ce qui empêche véritablement de parler de « liberté heureuse ». Mais si la question est de savoir si le droit administratif français, à partir de ses particularités, de son originalité ainsi que de ses règles normatives, permet de reconnaître une telle liberté en faveur des personnes publiques, alors la réponse est négative. L’intérêt général, les prérogatives de la puissance publique, la compétence, la souveraineté, l’efficacité de la commande publique, la bonne utilisation des deniers publics et les principes fondamentaux de la commande publique,etc., constituent des obstacles fondamentaux non seulement à la reconnaissance de la liberté contractuelle aux personnes publiques mais également à son exercice effectif par ces dernières. Ainsi, certains auteurs ont pu conclure au sujet de la liberté contractuelle des personnes publiques qu’« en théorie elle existe mais, dans la pratique, personne ne l'a jamais vraiment rencontrée". / Concluding on the subject of freedom of contract in French administrative law is not easy. It depends essentially on how to raise the issue. So if the question is whether public persons have, as individuals, contractual freedom, the answer, in the best case is that this is a special character to freedom. Indeed, in practice, this freedom is very limited, its manifestations are marginal, which prevents us from truly speaking of a "happy freedom." But if the question is whether the French administrative law, from its peculiarities, its originality and its normative rules can recognize such freedom in favor of public entities, then the answer is negative. The public interest, the prerogatives of public power, competence, sovereignty, efficiency of public procurement, proper use of public money and the fundamental principles of public procurement, etc., are fundamental obstacles not only to the recognition of freedom of contract to public persons but also to the effective exercise by them. Some authors have concluded on the contractual freedom of public persons that "in theory it exists but in practice, nobody really ever met it"

Eléments essentiels du contrat, les clauses contractuelles méritent d’être étudiées afin de faciliter leur utilisation par les praticiens et leur appréhension par le juge.Délaissant toute visée exhaustive, ce travail n’a pas pour objet de répertorier ni de dénombrer matière par matière, à la manière d’un catalogue, les innombrables clauses foisonnant dans l’ensemble des branches du droit privé. Un tel projet ne livrerait que des enseignements parcellaires et descriptifs. Une réflexion générale sur les clauses prises comme instrument juridique ne présuppose pas de se livrer à un examen systématique de l’ensemble de leurs applications particulières, mais au contraire de mettre l’accent sur certains de leurs effets,jugés les plus remarquables.Une typologie des principales clauses devait tout d’abord être établie grâce à une approche fonctionnelle de leurs manifestations contractuelles. En effet, la volonté des parties d’organiser leur contrat tend généralement vers quatre grandes finalités : aménager l’exécution du contrat, gérer les risques encourus, éviter l’appréciation judiciaire et prévoir la fin du contrat et ses éventuelles sanctions. L’établissement d’une classification basée sur leur fonction permettait en outre de ne pas délaisser ni les clauses naissant au gré des besoins économiques ni les clauses considérées comme autonomes. Ce projet conduisait nécessairement à rechercher les modalités d’exécution des clauses d’une même catégorie permettant ainsi de proposer un régime juridique propre à chacune de ces catégories.Prolongeant l’analyse de leur fonction, il convenait alors dans une seconde partie d’étudier les liens existants entre les clauses et le contrat. Les clauses sont au service du contrat dont elles aménagent les obligations, prolongent les effets et précisent les sanctions.Or, parallèlement aux deux niveaux de dispositions que représentent la théorie générale du contrat et le droit des contrats spéciaux, il devait être démontré qu’une théorie générale des clauses contractuelles ne saurait constituer un troisième niveau de règles applicables au contrat. Néanmoins, une vision générale de l’influence de leurs effets, sur et en dehors du contrat, a permis d’établir des conditions de validité et des règles communes applicables à toutes les clauses. / Contractual clauses are key elements of a contract and should be studied more closely in order to facilitate their use by practioners and to enhance understanding by the judge.This work does not claim to be exhaustive. Its purpose is not to to identify, enumerate or catalogue the numerous clauses that abound in all branches of private law. Such a project would only yield a fragmented, descriptive insight. A general reflection on clauses as legal instruments does not necessitate a detailed examination of all applications but only that their most notable effects be highlighted.Firstly, a typology of the most important clauses had to be drawn up based on a functional approach regarding their contractual applications. The parties to a contract generally have in view four main goals: organising the execution of the contract, managing the risks, avoiding legal pitfalls, and foreseeing the end of the contract and any potential sanctions. The establishment of a classification based on function ensured that clauses arising from economic necessity as well as clauses considered to be independent would not beneglected. Hence, this project comprises research on the details of implementation of clauses in the same category, leading to the setting out of a legal regime appropriate to each category. Secondly, the aim of analysing the clauses’ functions led to studying the links between clauses and contracts. Clauses basically serve to organise the terms of the contract, extend its effects and establish sanctions. However, in parallel to the two levels – the general theory of contracts and special contracts law – it had to be demonstrated that a general theory of contractual clauses did not constitute a third level of rules applicable to contracts. Nevertheless, an overall view of the influence of their effects, both in terms of and beyond the contract, has allowed for the establishment of a general regime presenting the conditions of validity and common rules applicable to all clauses.

Because women are predominantly responsible for childcare, men are the primary income earners. Having acquired the marital assets, on divorce the husband would retain them in a marriage out of community of property. The wife would be left deskilled, financially dependent, with little likelihood of receiving spousal maintenance and with no marital assets. In 1984 the Matrimonial Property Act and in 1988 the Matrimonial Property Law Amendment Act introduced a judicial discretion to equitably redistribute marital assets in certain marriages out of community. This dissertation argues that the bases for the limitation of the judicial discretion to women married before a certain date are unsound and that the limitation arguably violates the equality clause of the Constitution. / Law / LL.M.

La responsabilité précontractuelle dérive de la transposition du devoir d'agir de bonne foi qui pèse sur les contractants au stade de l'exécution du contrat à celle de sa formation. En Colombie, cette transposition s'est faite en 1971 par voie législative dans le Code du commerce alors qu‟en France elle s'est produite grâce à la jurisprudence. Toutefois, le caractère répressif de la responsabilité au stade de la formation du contrat est encore conçu, au mieux, comme une simple réminiscence de la responsabilité délictuelle et, au pire, comme une sanction marginale à la responsabilité contractuelle. L'intérêt qui existe dans cette recherche en droit comparé consiste, en effet, à trouver le critère qui donne à la responsabilité précontractuelle son autonomie, sa spécificité. Ainsi, une observation attentive nous a permis de découvrir que ceux qui persistent à nier l‟existence de la responsabilité précontractuelle en la rattachant à la délictuelle se sont penchés sur un critère chronologique emprunté à l'ancienne notion du contrat : le moment de sa conclusion. En effet, d'après eux, l'absence de contrat justifie que l'on applique le principe général de responsabilité délictuelle. Pourtant, la comparaison des régimes colombien et français montre la fragilité de ce raisonnement face aux nombreuses victimes des vices du consentement qui, de plus en plus, préfèrent l'indemnisation du dommage à la nullité du contrat. Une fragilité qui se révèle d‟autant plus évidente face aux dommages-intérêts qui sont accordés par les juges dans des contrats bel et bien formés, mais qui ne correspondent pas aux fautes dans l'exécution des obligations qui en découlent, mais aux fautes au stade de sa formation. En essence, l'identification des points de convergence ou de divergence de ces droits au stade de la formation du contrat, et leur comparaison par rapport aux mutations du régime de la bonne foi semblent, en effet, contribuer au renforcement de la responsabilité précontractuelle en tant qu'institution autonome. / Pre-contractual liability is derived from the transfer of the duty of the contracting parties to act in good faith from the contract performance phase to the contract formation phase. This transfer was carried out in Colombia by legislative action through the 1971 Commerce Code and in France, by jurisprudence. Nevertheless, the repressive nature of liability during contract formation is still interpreted as simply a reminiscence of delictual liability, at best, and as a marginal sanction for contractual liability, at worst. The goal of this study in comparative law is to find a criterion that confers autonomy and specificity to pre-contractual liability. Therefore, careful analysis by the author led to the discovery that those who insist on denying the existence of pre-contractual liability by linking it to delictual liability have based their argument on a chronological perspective taken from the old notion of contract, i.e., the time of execution. Furthermore, in their view, the absence of a contract justifies the application of the non-contractual liability regime. However, a comparison of the Colombian and French systems on this matter shows the fragility of the argument when faced with the large number of victims of defects of consent who, day after day, prefer indemnification of damages instead of a ruling of nullity of contract. This fragility is much more evident when judges order the indemnification of damages in well-formed contracts, due not to faults related to failure to meet any of the obligations that are derived from them, but to faults originating in the contract formation phase. In essence, finding common ground and discrepancies between the Colombian and French law systems regarding the contract formation phase and comparing them with the mutations of the good faith regime seem to actually contribute to consolidating pre-contractual liability as an autonomous institution.

La portée de la liberté contractuelle dans les relations entre associés est régulièrement relativisée, voire anéantie, à l’aune des règles impératives qui régissent les personnes morales. L’hypertrophie de ces dernières est parfois décriée. La liberté serait d’autant plus bridée qu’elle subirait le joug d’un principe d’égalité, lequel s’oppose à ce qu’une différenciation de traitement soit permise, si ce n’est à titre expressément exceptionnel. Pour autant, à l’analyse des textes, la préférence se révèle n’être que l’expression de la liberté contractuelle dans les relations entre associés. Elle en adopte un régime similaire : en dehors des prohibitions expresses – issues tant de la théorie générale du contrat que du droit des sociétés –, et de l’excès d’inégalité – dont l’intérêt social se fait garant spécial en la matière –, dès lors que le consentement des associés aux aménagements est libre et éclairé, le principe est la liberté de stipuler une altérité de traitement. Quelle que soit la forme sociale considérée, les associés bénéficient d’une grande liberté pour aménager l’ensemble de leurs prérogatives à l’image de leurs besoins. Inégalité constructive et dynamique au service de l’intérêt social, la préférence doit être promue : le souhait est alors renouvelé d’une clarification et d’une simplification du cadre normatif offert aux statuts des sociétés françaises. / The impact of contractual freedom in associates’ relations is often contextualized, if not annihilated, with regard to the mandatory rules governing legal entities. The hypertrophy of those rules is sometimes criticized. Not only is freedom limited, it also suffers from a principle of equality, which prohibit unequal treatment, unless it is on exceptional occasions. However, upon a thorough text analysis, the preference turns out to be the expression of contractual freedom in the relations between associates. It adopts a similar system: apart from intentional prohibitions – originating both from the general theory of contract and corporate laws -, and from excessive inequality –to which social interest acts as a protector in that area-, as soon as the consent of the associates to the organization is free and enlightened, the principle is the freedom to stipulate an alterity of processing. Whichever social form is considered, the associates receive an important freedom to build all their prerogatives reflecting their needs. With constructive and dynamic inequality in social interest’s service, preference must be promoted: the wish must be expressed again with a clarification and a simplification of the standard framework offered to French companies statuses.

Because women are predominantly responsible for childcare, men are the primary income earners. Having acquired the marital assets, on divorce the husband would retain them in a marriage out of community of property. The wife would be left deskilled, financially dependent, with little likelihood of receiving spousal maintenance and with no marital assets. In 1984 the Matrimonial Property Act and in 1988 the Matrimonial Property Law Amendment Act introduced a judicial discretion to equitably redistribute marital assets in certain marriages out of community. This dissertation argues that the bases for the limitation of the judicial discretion to women married before a certain date are unsound and that the limitation arguably violates the equality clause of the Constitution. / Law / LL.M.

Par les représentations qu’elle véhicule et les solutions qu’elle encourage, l’édificationd’une théorie générale n’est jamais neutre au plan axiologique. Sa construction repose certes sur laconnaissance du droit positif de lege lata, mais la mise en ordre qui en résulte demeure quant à elleintimement liée aux perceptions et aux convictions de l’interprète. C’est en ce sens que doit êtreabordée la question de l’apport du droit du travail à la théorie générale de l’acte juridique. La présenteétude met en évidence le caractère protéiforme du phénomène envisagé, sans occulter les situations oùla discipline fait davantage figure de contre modèle que de véritable source d’inspiration. Adoptant unpoint de vue prospectif, cette recherche met en évidence les aspects de droit du travail susceptiblesd’encourager la promotion d’une théorie de l’acte juridique marquée par le pluralisme. La matièrecontribue ainsi à souligner la variété des conditions dans lesquelles se forme la volonté de s’engager,tout comme la diversité de ses modes d’expression. Elle témoigne également d’une capacité certaine àtraduire sur le terrain du Droit, afin de mieux les appréhender, l’altérité des rapports de force et lamutabilité des données factuelles qui accompagnent l’exécution des actes juridiques. / By the representations it conveys and the solutions it encourages, the building of ageneral theory is never neutral in an axiological plan. Although its construction is based on knowledgeof Positive Law de lege lata, the resulting order meanwhile remains closely linked to the perceptionsand beliefs of the interpreter. It is in this sense that must be addressed the question of the contributionof labor law to the general theory of the legal act. This study highlights the protean nature of theconsidered phenomenon, without concealing the situations where the discipline resembles more acounter productive model than a true source of inspiration. Adopting a prospective point of view, thisresearch highlights aspects of the labour law likely to encourage the promotion of a theory of the legalact marked by pluralism. The material thus contributes to underline the variety of conditions in whichforms the willingness to engage oneself, just like the diversity of its modes of expression. It alsoshows a certain capacity to translate in the field of law, in order to understand them better, theotherness of the balances of power and the mutability of the factual data accompanying the executionof legal acts.

This thesis examines the validity of exclusionary clauses in medical contracts, more especially, hospital contracts in which the healthcare provider exonerates itself against edictal liability arising from the negligent conduct of its staff, resulting in the patient suffering damages. In assessing whether these types of clauses should be outlawed by our courts, this thesis attempts to synthesize six major traditional areas of law, namely, the law of delict, the law of contract, medical law and ethics, international and foreign law, statutory law and constitutional law into a legal conceptual framework relating specifically to exclusionary clauses in medical contracts in South Africa. This thesis highlights systemic inconsistencies with regard to the central issue, namely, whether these types of clauses are valid or not, especially, given the fact that the practice of exclusionary clauses or waivers in hospital contracts has hitherto traditionally been assessed within the framework of the law of contract. The alignment of the various pre-existing areas of statutory and common law with the Constitution highlights that an inter-disciplinary and purposive approach under the value-driven Constitution, brings about a less fragmented picture in assessing the validity of these types of clauses. This approach accords with the new solicitude of the executive, the judiciary, the legislature and academia to transform the South African legal system not only in terms of procedural law but also substantive law. This has resulted in the alignment with constitutional principles and the underlying values to test the validity of these types of clauses, alternatively, contracts. Whereas pre-constitutionally the assessment of disclaimers in hospital contracts was done against the stratum of antiquated principles, namely, freedom of contract and the sanctity of contract, ignoring values such as reasonableness, fairness and conscionability, post-constitutionally, because the values that underlie the Bill of Rights and which affects all spheres of law, including the law of contract, concepts such as fairness, equity, reasonableness should weigh heavily with the decision-maker. In this regard, broader medico-legal considerations, normative medical ethics and the common law principles of good faith, fairness and reasonableness play a fundamental role in the assessment of contractual provisions, including the practice of disclaimers or exclusionary clauses in hospital contracts. This thesis critically examines how these types of clauses or contracts ought to be adjudicated eventually against the background of such alignment. It concludes that the entering into a hospital contract, in which the patient exonerates a hospital and its staff from liability flowing from the hospital or its staff's negligence causing damages to the patient, would be inconsistent with the Constitution and invalid. In the old order in which traditional divisions of law have been encouraged, a fragmented approach resulted in legal in congruencies which, in turn, created turbulence and a lot of uncertainty. This approach is apposite to that which the new constitutionally based legal system, aims to achieve. The rights in the Bill of Rights which are interconnected and which influences all spheres of law, including contract law, offers a fairer basis upon which, the validity of contracts, or contractual provisions, can be measured than, the pure contract approach. In this regard, although contracts or contractual provisions in the past may have been unfair and unreasonable, the courts, however, refused to strike them down purely on this basis. The law of contract, as a legal vehicle for adjudicating the validity of exclusionary clauses or waivers in hospital contracts, is therefore not ideal. This is primarily due to the antiquated approach the South African courts have always taken in this area of law. The law of delict, statutory law and medical law, standing alone, also does not provide a satisfactory answer. What is needed is an integrated approach in which the traditional areas of law are united and wherein constitutional principles and values, give much guidance and direction. Alternatively, should the unification of the traditional areas of law not be possible in bringing about fair and equitable results, the introduction of legislative measures may very well be indicated. / Thesis (LLD)--University of Pretoria, 2009. / Public Law / unrestricted