THE CIVIL ASPECTS OF GUARANTOR’S RESPONSIBILITY

Abstract

The problem of the performance of obligations in legal science has not been reviewed substantially after the re-enactment of the Civil Law of the Republic of Latvia in 1992. Apart from that, effective functioning of legislation and the changes thereof in accordance with the existing circumstances in civil law relations depend directly on the statutory procedure for the performance of obligations. Surety is one of the most widespread measures of civil responsibility. A guarantee is essentially an accessory obligation, as a guarantor’s debt does not exist without the debtor’s debt and is an accessory act determining the principal act, i.e. the principal debt. That is, a guarantee is an accessory obligation for the purpose of securing obligations for the principal debt of a third party. Mortgage loan relations began developing impetuously at the turn of the 20th century. Due to that, the importance of the law of obligations has increased considerably, including guarantee as a way of securing obligations. At the modern stage of market relations development, creditors seek to secure the performance of their debtors’ liabilities and, in case of failure to perform those or improper performance thereof, to obtain guarantee against losses. At that, creditors in pursuit of this goal are quite successful in employing both the opportunities provided for by the law and the drawbacks of the effective legislation. Nowadays, the usage of guarantee as an instrument is facing a series of new problems incidental to the practice in the application of legal regulations pertaining to guarantee, in particular, the guarantor’s responsibility, which is why the article is of practical interest. The inferences and suggestions provided within the thesis can be used after the implementation of the respective changes in the Civil law of the Republic of Latvia.