Private law

The present chapter discusses the regulation of private law in Latvia from the point of view of main private law branches. The chapter commences with the discussion of property law by characterising historical background of its regulation, main institutes, regulatory approaches and recent developments. The next section provides an overview of the regulation of the law of obligations by distinguishing contract law and non-contractual obligations. Special attention is paid to the modernisation of that regulation, which took place in recent years. Furthermore, the commercial law section explores company law by analysing specific institutes such as commercial register or special authorisations, types of merchants, their reorganisation and insolvency and provides an overview of the regulation of commercial transactions, their basic principles and main institutes, considering that Latvian law exploits a dual concept of private law. The family law part covers marriage, rights and duties between parents and children, and guardianship and trusteeship. The inheritance law part discusses different inheritance models and procedure for conducting inheritance cases in Latvia. The last section provides an overview of the regulation of civil procedure, which has experienced more than 50 amendments since 2001.