Unenforceable Contracts and Unjusticiable Contracts: Secs. 32-33 of the Contracts (General Part) Law, 1973

Abstract

The Contracts (General Part) Law, 1973, is the fundamental statute in Israeli contract law, and will in the future serve as the basis for the codification of Israel civil law. The Law was enacted following a decade of meticulous preparatory work by a committee headed by Professor Tedeschi. Prof. Tedeschi was the leading intellectual force in this committee; his influence is apparent in the approaches, principles and concepts of the Law, as well as-in its particular provisions. Prof. Tedeschi also devoted a part of his prolific writings to the realm of contracts law. This article, dealing with only two sections of the wide-ranging Contracts (General Part) Law, is dedicated with admiration to the father of Israeli modem contract law.

This article is concerned with two categories of contracts accorded special treatment by the law - the contracts discussed in sections 32 and 33 of the Contracts (General Part) Law.

Section 32 deals with gambling, lottery or betting contracts and establishes in principle that they are not enforceable.

Section 33 deals with contracts under which a mark, title or prize is to be given and establishes in principle that they are not justiciable.

These two sections of the Law will constitute the axis of our discussion. We shall explain their background, analyze their provisions and determine their boundaries.

Keywords: contract, Israel, civil law, Tedeschi, committee, Section 33, Section 32