Guarantor Obligation in the contract

If law required that person who makes contract must write the content of contract by him/herself, but in reality, the person cannot read or write, what will party do instead of his/her illiterate?

According to Article 900(1) of Civil Code (CC), a guaranty shall be formed when (1) a prospective guarantor undertakes to the obligee that in the event the obligor (principal obligor) fails to perform his obligation (underlying obligation), the prospective guarantor will perform the whole or part of such obligation together with the obligor(guarantor’s obligation), and (2)the obligee accepts such undertaking. Therefore even when the amount of the guaranty obligation is not set forth in the guarantor’s handwriting, the contract of guaranty is still valid but it may be revoked by the guarantor at any moment (Art.901(2)).

If the guarantor is illiterate and could not write the amount of the guaranty obligation, the contract of guaranty is valid but may be revoked at any moment. Therefore counter party is not willing to enter into the contract of guaranty with a prospective guarantor who is illiterate. But it is inconvenient for the illiterate person.

There might be some way for the illiterate person to enter into the contract of guaranty which may not be revoked. In other word, there might be cases in which the judge may consider that there is substantial “guarantor’s handwriting” even if there is no actual handwriting of guarantor. For example in the case that an illiterate person A entered into the contract of guaranty, his/her son B attended him/her and wrote “ I handwrote the amount of the guaranty obligation instead of A because A is illiterate” as well as the amount of the guaranty obligation instead of A. If you, the judge consider this substantially same as “guarantor’s (A’s) handwriting” , A cannot revoke this contract because Art.901(2) does not apply. Whether you should consider this to be A’s handwriting or not depends on the situation. So this is a matter of interpretation of “guarantor’s handwriting”(Art.901(2)) and it’s up to the Cambodian judge’s decision.

In deciding whether it shall be considered as “guarantor’s handwriting” or not, you shall keep the purpose of Art.901(2) in mind.  The purpose of Art.901(2) is to protect an interest of guarantor. Art.901(2) protects an interest of guarantor by requiring his/her handwriting because prospective guarantor becomes more considerate and careful where he/she handwrites the amount of the guaranty obligation in entering into the contract of guaranty. Therefore if the substitute way for the guarantor’s handwriting is against the interest of guarantor, we cannot say this substitute way is substantially same as “guarantor’s handwriting”, so the judge may not consider this substitute way to be “guarantor’s handwriting” . 

Real Rights Resume in Cambodia

It is a lesson for teaching student at university that I did it since last year. It is a only information for you to study about the real right in Cambodia. This lesson is focused on theory which is stated in the new civil code. The civil code in Cambodia was adopted by National Assembly since 2007 but it was not implemented yet because this code need many law to support it.

However the Civil Code will be implemented within this year because the draft law on implementation of it has been reached to national assembly since December 2010.

Please click here to link the document.

If you have any comment on it, I am welcome. 

Legal Framework of NGOs in Cambodia

Since 1995, the Cambodian Government has initiated draft laws on NGOs and Associations in order to govern the conduct and operation of NGO’s. Moreover, in the early of the Royal Government in the 4^th mandate announced on finalize the NGO and Association Law and according to National Strategy Development Plan 2009-2013 also mentioned on NGOs law as in page 26 “A law on NGOs will be passed after wide consultation with all stakeholders” and page 112 “the Royal Government will continue to pursue the adoption and implementation of Law on Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) and in close consultation with relevant agencies and organization.”. Reference to announcement of Royal Government and it strategy plan, NGO’s have reviewed and considered the proposed laws, and believe that their ability to work on important social issues will be significantly hampered. Human Rights NGO’s are seriously concerned that the government is intent on using the proposed NGO law to control and limit their rights and operations. They fear restriction of the human rights of free assembly and restricted freedom of expression – both rights are guaranteed in the Human Rights Declarations signed by the Cambodian Government as well as in the Cambodian Constitution.

However, NGOs are playing an important role for Cambodian society. They are working directly with people in remote areas to provide legal services, capacity building, and other important activities.  Royal Government of Cambodia recognized NGOs’ development role in Cambodia and also put its strategy to work with NGOs as a partnership. However, the relationship between Royal Government of Cambodia and Non Governmental Organization (particularly human rights NGOs) has not been good since 2008. Because of the stated fear that those NGOs could obtain funds or donations from terrorist groups during his term, the Prime Minister sought enactment of a draft NGO Law by the National Assembly in order to control or manage NGO activities. Currently, the draft is under consideration at the Ministry of Interior (MoI) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. On August 10, 2010, MoI issued a letter seeking funding for public consultation. 


This is a first edition of book on Legal Framework of NGOs in Cambodia. Please click here (Kh or English) to download the book. 

Local Insight Global Impact

In Cambodia, the government announced that a long-anticipated draft NGO law will soon be made available.  Consistent with ICNL’s policy of strengthening local capacity, we provided a one-month fellowship to a Cambodian lawyer, Bunthoeurn Ke.

Mr. Ke researched how internationally observed principles may support freedom of association and energize

This is an annual report from International Center for Not for Project Law (ICNL) that I was interned over there. In order to know clearly about this matter please see the page 8 of this report.

Please click here to link information.

Thanks