Animal adoption contracts

The article aims to discuss the purpose, subject matter and content of animal adoption contracts that are present in circulation. The considerations are inspired by the analysis of the practice of circulation and case law on the issue of animal adoption contracts, against which the article raises some criticism. The Author differentiates within the framework of the article between contracts under which ownership of the animal is granted to the adopter, and contracts that grant the guardian rights and obligations of a relative nature that make up the so-called adoption obligation. Both types of adoption contracts should be considered unnamed contracts permissible under the principle of the freedom of contract, but the possibility of applying legal norms to them per analogiam is different. However, it is important to make the general assumption that when considering analogy, priority should be granted to analogy from those norms that relate to legal relations that allow the use of a property for oneself and in one’s interest. Among the principal theses of the article the thesis on the permissibility of the adopter’s acquisition of ownership of an animal abandoned under the procedure outlined in Articles 180-181 of the Polish Civil Code, which is sometimes disputed in the doctrine, should also be included.

The article aims to discuss the purpose, subject matter and content of animal adoption contracts that are present in circulation. The considerations are inspired by the analysis of the practice of circulation and case law on the issue of animal adoption contracts, against which the article raises some criticism. The Author differentiates within the framework of the article between contracts under which ownership of the animal is granted to the adopter, and contracts that grant the guardian rights and obligations of a relative nature that make up the so-called adoption obligation. Both types of adoption contracts should be considered unnamed contracts permissible under the principle of the freedom of contract, but the possibility of applying legal norms to them per analogiam is different. However, it is important to make the general assumption that when considering analogy, priority should be granted to analogy from those norms that relate to legal relations that allow the use of a property for oneself and in one’s interest. Among the principal theses of the article the thesis on the permissibility of the adopter’s acquisition of ownership of an animal abandoned under the procedure outlined in Articles 180-181 of the Polish Civil Code, which is sometimes disputed in the doctrine, should also be included.