Negotiorum Gestio

NEGOTIORUM GESTIO. - The management of another's affairs (negotiorum gestio) is a form, at least in a broad sense, of quasi-contract (v.) and corresponds practically to a presumed mandate. It consists in the management of any affair in the name and on behalf of a third party who is presently absent or unaware, but who it is prudently presumed would give the mandate if he were aware of the matter. Many are the circumstances that can give occasion for a management of another's affairs: the sudden call to arms or the flight before the invading enemy of one who had no time to provide for all his affairs; the sudden death of groups, of persons, due, for example, to bombardments, epidemics, mass arrests; civil disturbances, the finding of objects whose origin and ownership are unknown. Whoever in these or similar circumstances assumes the responsibility of providing for the maintenance of another's things and goods (livestock, house, lands) becomes a manager of affairs.

Among the principal moral obligations of the manager of affairs is that of administering with diligence proportionate to the object of the management and of then rendering an account of it to the interested party. Among his rights, on the other hand, is that the interested party recognize as done by himself whatever was necessary for the preservation of the object of the management, not excluding any obligations that the manager may have incurred; and that of being reimbursed for all necessary and useful expenses required by the object itself, even if these then did not succeed in a happy outcome. It is further admitted that he be given a reward proportionate to the work and the risks he incurred and to the service thus rendered to the owner. Civil legislation then generally determines better the relations between the manager and the owner. The Italian one, among other things, does not admit that one who is incapable of contracting may assume a management of another's affairs (Italian Civil Code, art. 2020) and does not intend to submit to the obligations of management as if it were a true and proper mandate (art. 2030); it also imposes the burden of continuing the management until the heirs can provide for it directly, should the first interested party in the meantime die (art. 2028). Neither Catholic morality nor civil law imposes as a burden of justice the assuming of the management of another's affairs. There remains, however, the general obligation of charity to do so, if this be possible, does not constitute a grave inconvenience, there are no others who can and will do it, and a grave harm is feared for the interested party should the management not be assumed. Once, however, the burden of management has been assumed, it is generally a grave duty of justice to conduct it according to the moral law and current customs.

Lorenzo Simeone