Abuse of rights


In civil law jurisdictions, abuse of rights is the exercise of a legal right only to cause annoyance, harm, or injury to another. The abuser is liable for the harm caused by their actions. Some examples of this are abuse of power, barratry, frivolous or vexatious litigation, a spite fence or wall, forum shopping, abuse of process, malicious prosecution, tax avoidance, etc. The principle is a creature of case law and was expanded from the neighborhood law doctrine of aemulatio vicini under the jus commune. This principle departs from the classical theory that “he who uses a right injures no one”, instead embracing the maxim “a right ends where abuse begins”.

Foundation

The :de:Rechtsmissbrauch|abuse of rights principle is laid out in German law by the so-called Schikaneverbot ‘ban on vexatiousness’. It reads as follows:
Article 2 of the Titre préliminaire to the Swiss Civil Code states:
Articles 19, 20 and 21 of the Civil Code of the Philippines state that:
At least one of four conditions is required to invoke the doctrine:
The principle does not exist in common law jurisdictions.
In Scots law, a much more limited doctrine known as aemulatio vicini serves the same purpose.