In its Judgment File No. 25 Cdo 5765/2017 dated 31 January 2019, the Czech Supreme Court commented on a breach of a promise and its legal consequences. The Court declared that the rules included in Section 3(2)(d) CC summarize the principle pacta sunt servanda, dating back to Roman law, which lies at the very heart of all legal obligations. The purpose of the cited Section is to define the broadest general rule that parties must comply with in their contractual obligations. The additional statutory text “a promise once given shall be binding” serves as a mere proclamation, which does not give rise to specific legal consequences. The law explicitly defines all instances in which a unilateral act (i.e., an expression of will) does bind the actor by defining specific negative legal consequences of deviation from such expression. This means that the proclamation has more moral than legal meaning. Generally, attaching creation of legal duties to all unilateral expressions of will having the form of a promise would contradict the rules of how legal obligations are actually created, leading to severe consequences. This means that where a promise is given outside a specific legal framework, a breach of such promise does not constitute a violation of the law as per Section 2910 CC and does not give the right to claim damages.
