Calculation of time limits
Calculation of time limits
"One question has been bothering me for a long time. How are expressions such as 'payable in eight days, thirty days, one month' to be understood, and what happens when nothing is written down?
Jessica, Carouge
When a performance is due, it is essential to know when the creditor can demand performance from the debtor and when the debtor is entitled to perform. This point in time depends essentially on the law, commercial practice or the parties. The law distinguishes between obligations without a time limit and obligations with a time limit. An obligation is said to be "without term" when no term has been stipulated by the parties, or when it is not apparent from a legal provision, the nature of the business or the hypothetical will of the parties. This type of service can be performed and claimed immediately. Obligations are said to be "time-bound" when a term or time limit has been set for the performance of the obligation. If the term is fixed at the beginning or end of a month, it is the first or last day of the month. A term set in the middle of a month means the fifteenth day of that month. Where a term has been fixed by days, it expires on the last day of the term at midnight. The day from which the period begins is not counted, as the period begins to run on the following day. If it is eight or fifteen days, it does not mean one or two weeks, but eight or fifteen full days. A period fixed by weeks expires on the day which, in the last week, corresponds by name to the starting day: a period of 2 weeks from Monday will expire on Monday two weeks later. A period fixed by month or by a period comprising several months (year, half-year, quarter) expires on the day which, in the last month, corresponds by its date to the day on which the contract was concluded: a three-month period starting on 20 February will expire on 20 May. If there is no corresponding day in the last month, the obligation is performed on the last day of that month. The expression "half a month" is equivalent to a period of fifteen days.
A deadline that falls on a Sunday or other public holiday is automatically extended to the next working day. In the event of an extension of the term agreed for performance, the new term shall run, unless otherwise agreed by the parties, from the first day following the expiry of the previous term. The debtor may, of course, perform his obligation before the due date, unless the parties intend otherwise.
