Abstract

A legal person that does not have a governing body or the governing body is defective and cannot represent it, may be represented in court by a curator ad litem appointed at the request of the opposing party (Art. 69 § 1 of the Code of Civil Procedure). Such a curator is authorised to perform all procedural acts on its behalf. Also a legal person may in such case be represented in court by a curator appointed pursuant to Art. 42 § 1 of the Civil Code. However, this will only be permissible if the authority to represent the legal person arises from the wording of a court decision. Art 69 § 4 of the Code of Civil Procedure provides that the curator appointed under Art. 42 § 1 of the Civil Code should obligatorily replace the revoked curator ad litem, which decision is to be taken by the court upon having been notified of their appointment. This will only be the case if the curator ad litem appointed under Art. 42 § 1 of the Civil Code has been given adequate procedural powers for the trial in question by the court. In other cases, the application of Art. 69 § 4 of the Code of Civil Procedure requires a prior extension of the powers of the curator to include the authority to represent the legal person in the proceedings.