Transactions and representation
A transaction is an act of individuals and legal entities aimed at creating, changing or ending civil rights and duties. For it to be valid four requirements must be met: lawfulness (no purpose contrary to law), sufficient active capacity of the parties, voluntariness (not made under threat, deceit, violence or mistake) and observance of the form the law sets. Forms are oral, simple written and notarised; transactions with real estate must also be state-registered. Transactions are unilateral (for example a will), bilateral or multilateral (contracts). If a transaction is declared invalid it produces no legal consequences from the start: each party returns what it received, or, if that is impossible, pays its value in money. Grounds include failure to observe the form; contradiction with law; a transaction by a person under 14 (apart from small everyday ones); one by a 14–18-year-old without parental consent; one by a person a court has declared incapable; one made under mistake, deceit, violence or threat; a sham transaction made for show; and one by a legal entity contrary to its aims. Representation means one person (the representative) makes a transaction in the name of another with authority based on a power of attorney, law or court decision; for those without active capacity, transactions are made by parents, adopters or guardians. A power of attorney is the written document giving authority, in simple written or notarial form, granted for at most three years (one year if no term is stated) and must carry a date.
“Valid?” check: 8 short transaction descriptions (a 13-year-old selling a car; a gift of unregistered real estate; an agreement signed under threat, and so on). Groups mark “valid” or “invalid” and name the requirement behind the reason.