Civil Law of the Republic of Latvia

Introduction

1. Rights shall be exercised and duties performed in good faith. 

2. This Law is applicable to all legal issues, to which its text or interpretation relates. 

Rights based on custom may neither set aside nor vary law. Rights based on custom are appli- cable in the cases specified by law. 

3. Every civil legal relation shall be adjudged in accordance with the laws which are in force at the time when such legal relations are created, varied or terminated. Previously acquired rights shall not be affected. 

4. The provisions of this Law shall be inter- preted firstly in accordance with their direct meaning; where necessary, they may also be in- terpreted in accordance with the structure, basis and purposes of this Law; and, finally, they may also be interpreted through analogy. 

5. Where a matter is required to be decided in the discretion of a court or on the basis of good cause, the judge shall decide the matter in ac- cordance with a sense of justice and the general principles of law. 

6. The general provisions regarding obliga- tions are applicable mutatis mutandis to family, inheritance and property legal relations. 

7. Place of residence (domicile) is that place where a person is voluntarily dwelling with the express or implied intent to permanently live or work there. 

A person may also have more than one place of residence. 

Temporary residence does not create the legal consequences of a place of residence and shall be adjudged not on the basis of duration, but in accordance with intent. 

8. The legal capacity and capacity to act of natural persons shall be determined in accordance with the law of their place of residence. If a per- son has a number of places of residence and one of them is in Latvia, then such person's legal ca- pacity and capacity to act, as well as the conse- quences of his or her legal acts shall be adjudged in accordance with Latvian law. 

Foreign nationals, who do not have capacity to act, but who could be acknowledged to have such capacity pursuant to Latvian law, are bound by their legal acts performed in Latvia, if this is required in the interests of administering justice. 

The rights and capacity to act of a legal per- son shall be determined pursuant to the law of the place where its board of directors is located. 

The provisions of the laws of Latvia, which restrict the legal capacity or capacity to act of foreign nationals in Latvia, are not affected. 

9. Guardianship and trusteeship shall be es- tablished in accordance with Latvian law, if the place of residence of the persons subject to guardianship or trusteeship is in Latvia. If the property of such persons is located in Latvia they, in respect of such property, shall be subject to Latvian law notwithstanding that they do not have a place of residence in Latvia. 

10. Missing persons may be declared pre- sumed dead in accordance with Latvian law, if their last place of residence was in Latvia. If the property of such persons is located in Latvia they, in respect of such property, shall be subject to Latvian law notwithstanding that they did not have a place of residence in Latvia. 

11. If a marriage is entered into in Latvia, the right to marry, the formalities of entering into marriage and the effect of marriage shall be de- termined in accordance with Latvian law. 

Similarly, the right of a citizen of Latvia to marry in a foreign state shall be determined in accordance with Latvian law. In that case, the law of the state, where the marriage is entered into, shall determine the formalities of entering into marriage. 

12. Dissolution of marriage and the declara- tion of a marriage as annulled, if done in a Latvian court, shall be adjudged in accordance with Latvian law, without regard to the national- ity of the spouses. In this respect, an exception may be allowed to the provisions of Section 3, in the sense that the relations of the spouses be- fore they become subject to Latvian law, may also be adjudged in accordance with Latvian law. 

A dissolution or declaration as annulled of a marriage of citizens of Latvia, done in a foreign state, shall also be recognised in Latvia, except in a case where the grounds submitted as the basis therefor do not conform to Latvian law and are in conflict with the social or moral standards of Latvia. 

13. Personal and property relations of spouses shall be determined in accordance with Latvian law, if the place of residence of the spouses is in Latvia. If property of the spouses is located in Latvia they, in respect of such property, shall be subject to Latvian law notwithstanding that they themselves do not have a place of residence in Latvia. 

14. Legal relations arising from sexual rela- tions outside of marriage shall be adjudged in accordance with Latvian law, if the place of resi- dence of a betrothed bride or mother of a child born outside of marriage was, at the time when such legal relations were created, in Latvia. 

Latvian law is also applicable where a dispute regarding such legal relations arises in Latvia. 

15. Personal and property relations between parents and children shall be determined in ac- cordance with Latvian law if the place of resi- dence of the person entitled to parental authority is in Latvia. If it is not clear which of the parents is entitled to parental authority, it shall be pre- sumed that the father is entitled to it. 

In respect of such property as is located in Latvia, parents and children are subject to Latvian law notwithstanding that the person en- titled to parental authority does not have a place of residence in Latvia. 

16. Inheritance rights regarding an inheritance located in Latvia shall be adjudged in accord- ance with Latvian law. 

17. The distribution, in a foreign state, of an inheritance shall be allowed only after the lawful claims against the inheritance, of persons whose place of residence is in Latvia, are satisfied first. 

18. Property rights – including possession – shall be determined in accordance with the law of the place where the property is located. 

The consequences of elapse of prescriptive periods or periods of limitation, in regard to property rights shall be adjudged in accordance with the law of the place where the property is located when the period elapses. 

The acquiring, varying or termination of prop- erty rights, if related to immovable property lo- cated in Latvia, and obligation rights arising from legal transactions, on the basis of which such property rights may be acquired, varied or terminated, shall, in respect of form and sub- stance, be determined solely in accordance with Latvian law, regardless of what persons made the relevant legal transactions and where they made them. Conflicting provisions and forms as are in such legal transactions are not in force in Latvia. 

19. In respect of obligations rights and du- ties arising from contract, it must first be as- certained whether the contracting parties have agreed as to what laws their mutual relations shall be adjudged in accordance with. Such agreement shall be in effect, insofar as it is not in conflict with mandatory or prohibitory norms of Latvian law. 

If there is no agreement, it shall be presumed that the contracting parties have made their obli- gation, in accordance with its substance and con- sequences, subject to the laws of the state where the obligation is to be performed. 

If the place where the obligation is to be per- formed is not able to be determined, the law of the place where the contract was entered into is applicable. 

Contracts entered into by institutions of the State of Latvia and local governments of Latvia shall be adjudged, in respect of their substance and consequences, in accordance with Latvian law, provided it is not otherwise stipulated in the contract itself. 

20. Obligations not based on contract shall be adjudged, in respect of their substance and con- sequences, in accordance with the law of the place where the basis, from which the obligation arose, was created. Obligations arising from wrongful acts shall be adjudged in accordance with the law of the place where the wrongful acts took place. 

21. Either the law of the place where a legal transaction was made or the law of the place where it is to be performed may be applied to the form of a legal transaction. 

The provisions of Section 18, Paragraph four shall be complied with in regard to the form of such transactions as relate to immovable prop- erty in Latvia. 

22. Where Latvian law allows the application of the law of a foreign state, the substance thereof shall be determined in accordance with the procedure prescribed in the Civil Procedure Law. If that is not possible, it shall be presumed that the legal system in the relevant foreign state, in the area of law to be adjudged, conforms to the Latvian legal system in the same area. 

23. If pursuant to the provisions of this intro- duction the law of a foreign state must be ap- plied, but such law in turn stipulates that Latvian law is applicable, then Latvian law shall be ap- plied. 

24. The law of a foreign state is not applicable in Latvia if is in conflict with the social or moral ideals of Latvia, or mandatory or prohibitory norms of Latvian law. 

25. The provisions of this introduction are applicable insofar as it is not prescribed other- wise in international agreements and conven- tions to which Latvia is a party.