Taking Counsel:Culpable self-help, or ‘Patvara’

Oct 07, 2009
By Martins Mezinskis [Kronbergs & Cukste]

Those readers not from Latvia may be unfamiliar with the term “patvara” in the law. It means culpable self help. And it is particularly in difficult economic times (although certainly not only under such circumstances) that some parties are tempted to forego lengthy and expensive trials over a debt repayment or dispute of some other kind in favor of self-help remedies. Self-help is not always illegal. But culpable self-help is. What is culpable self-help? It is unilateral conduct that confli ...

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