The breach of the obligation attributable to the impossibility of its performance for a cause not imputable to the debtor, in the liability system of the Bolivian Civil Code in force since 1976

Abstract

The present work addresses a central topic of Civil Law as it is the breach of the obligation that, surely, is a conflicting fact that affects social coexistence and we the jurist are called to solve. Specifically considering that, by the virtue of the article 339 of the Civil Code of Bolivia, the debtor is not liable for the breach if he proves the “impossibility to execute the obligation for a cause not attributable to him”. The objective is to specify the meaning and | 47 application requirements of this generic expression that includes numerous facts and lacks of a legislative notion. To achieve this porpoise, current Italian doctrine and judicial precedents quoted there are used, because our article 339 practically has the same wording as the article 1218 of the Italian Civil Code of 1942, which is the main source of the Bolivian Civil Code in force since April 2 of 1976. In this way, it contributes to the study of national Civil Law and demonstrates the usefulness of Comparative Law and the excellence of the source Code; making us meditate on the extreme caution that must be faced to carry forward the necessary civil reform in Bolivia to avoid retrogressions in the field.