Correlations Between the Offence of Deceit and the Regulation of Vices of Consent as Established by the New Civil Code

When a person’s consent is fraudulently obtained by the other party in the conclusion or execution of a contract, this can be sanctioned under civil law, according to the stipulations in the New Civil Code regarding vices of consent, but it is possible to transcend the civil law framework and sanction these acts as offences of deceit in conventions, as the vitiated consent becomes a specific required element by article 215 para. (3) of the Criminal Code. The offence of deceit in conventions attracts criminal liability for persons who, through actions of deceiving or maintaining the deceit of others in the context of the conclusion or execution of a contract, performed with the purpose of obtaining unjust material benefits, damage the patrimony of the people representing the other contracting party, thereby creating damages to the defrauded party. Even though consent is protected, mainly, by the regulations in civil law concerning vices of consent, should these legal provisions prove insufficient, and in order to ensure an efficient protection of patrimonial relationships, the fraudulent alteration of one of the party’s consent in the conclusion or execution of a contract can determine the criminal liability for committing the offence of deceit in conventions, and the enforcement of criminal law is justified by a certain gravity of these actions.