Nullity of legal acts in Panama

Abstract

The nullity of a legal act arises when one of its elements, such as the will, the object or the form, has been carried out imperfectly, which leads to a condition of invalidity from the perspective of Law. This situation implies that the act loses its legal effectiveness and takes the circumstances back to the time of its execution. In the context of the absolute nullity of legal acts in Panama, this study is based on the Civil Code and on classical and contemporary authors, with the objective of analyzing the sanction of invalidity that entails the absolute nullity of legal acts in Panama. Methodologically, it is a non-experimental, documentary and transversal research, which is based on the bibliographic review to conceptualize the basic elements to provide a clearer understanding of absolute nullity as a legal sanction that seeks to protect the current order of Panamanian society. The results highlight that national legislation considers nullity as the maximum sanction for malformed acts, which highlights the importance of validity in relation to the integrity of the elements that make up said acts, and the causes of absolute nullity are examined in the local context, including the illicit object and cause, the lack of fullness of the solemn form, as well as the absolute incapacity of the parties.