Contract for Donation in the Roman Law and its Development in the Positive Law in Kosovo

Abstract

Contract for donation is one of the oldest as well as the most important contracts in the
positive law in Kosovo, for the fact that through a gift deed a person (the donor) carries or is obliged
to convey the other contractor (the donee) the right to ownership of a particular object or any other
property right. This contract dates back to the Roman law where the foundations of the legal rules
regarding the notion of the contract for donation, the subjects that enter into that contract - the donor
and the recipient, the types of this contract, which even nowadays are recognized by the
contemporary law - both the positive law in Kosovo as well as the comparative one. Contract for
donation is a contract on the permanent and free assignment of any thing or right. The aim of entering
into this contract will be for one contracting party to gain material (property) benefits free of charge
to the expense of the other contracting party. Through the gift, the recipient gains the right of
ownership over a given item. The objective of charity (animus donandi) shall be the key element to
this type of contract, thus being the ground of this contract. Contract for donation is regulated in the
positive law of Kosovo through the Law on Obligation Relationships, which was adopted by the
Assembly of Kosovo in 2012. The purpose of this paper is to present the development of the contract
for donation in Roman law and by focusing on its detailed reflection on the positive law in Kosovo.
This contract is extensively applied in practice in Kosovo.