In the field of private law, if a legal act contains all its constitutive and mandatory elements without any defect or invalidity, yet remains open to annulment on specific legal grounds, the applicable sanction is referred to as voidability. The key point to understand in this context concerns legal capacity.
To clarify the concept, consider the following example: You purchase a computer from an electronics store for 3,000 TL, a price quoted by the store employee, and you conclude the sales contract accordingly. When you arrive home, you learn that your father purchased the exact same computer for you from the same store for 1,500 TL. You cannot return to the store and demand the cancellation of the contract solely because your father bought the same product at a lower price. However, if you inform the store that two different prices were given for the same item, the transaction may become voidable. In such a case, the defect does not stem from the constitutive elements of the contract but from an error attributable to the employee.
Another example is a contract concluded under fraud, threat or duress. Once the circumstances involving fraud, intimidation or coercion come to an end, you may apply to the competent legal authorities and declare that you did not genuinely consent to the contract and that you signed it only because you were subjected to such unlawful pressure. In this situation, the legal act becomes voidable. In general terms, if your consent is overridden and a contract is effectively imposed on you, that contract is voidable. However, voidability is subject to a limitation period: you must bring your claim within one year from the moment the coercive situation ceases. If the relevant ground is threat, the one-year period begins when the fear caused by the threat is eliminated.
Consequences of Voidability
Voidability is subject to a statutory limitation period of one year, beginning from the moment the coercive circumstances lapse. The court does not examine voidability ex officio, because the judge cannot independently determine that the legal act was performed under coercion. Since the act contains all constitutive and essential elements, the assertion of voidability must be raised by the affected party.
Suspended Ineffectiveness in Law
Suspended ineffectiveness requires the presence of a situation in which the legal act does not bind one party due to a lack of full legal capacity. This typically concerns minors or persons under guardianship or curatorship. Such individuals must obtain prior consent or approval from their legal representatives before entering into binding contracts. If they conclude a contract without obtaining such approval, the act becomes binding on the other party but not on the person lacking capacity. The good faith of the counterparty is also relevant.
In these situations, the legal act becomes effective only if the legal representative grants approval (ratification). If the representative refuses to give approval, the act becomes invalid.
