Exploring the Representation of an Imbecile in Financial Matters with an Emphasis on Article 667 of the Iranian Civil Code

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

• Mohammad Amin Fard ¹
• Mandana Mirzaei ²

¹ Associate Professor, department of jurisprudence and fundamentals of Islamic Law, Faculty of Theology and Islamic Sciences, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran

² PhD Student, department of jurisprudence and fundamentals of Islamic Law, Faculty of Theology and Islamic Sciences, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran

10.22067/jfiqh.2023.78177.1422

Abstract

Imāmī jurisprudence and Iranian Law hold that an imbecile (safīh) is a person who lacks the capacity to preserve his/her own wealth and does not utilize the assets in an appropriate manner. As so, the imbecile is legally restricted only in financial matters and in cases where he/she has to compensate for the assets. According to this view, the imbecile is prohibited from appointing a lawyer in financial matters or matters with financial implications, on the grounds that he/she lacks the legal capacity in matters that are not allowed for themselves. This is despite the fact that the imbecile can still receive a lawyer in financial matters or matters with financial implications. This view is not devoid of errors, since the imbecile is still deprived of strong awareness in the matter while receiving a lawyer. On the other hand, considering that “the lawyer must act in the constituent’s best interest” as articulated in Article 667, the representation of an imbecile is not problematic. The present study aims at clarifying the validity of this type of representation using the descriptive-analytical method and by citing library resources. It appears that the representation of an imbecile is not valid, because the criterion for this person’s inability to appoint a lawyer also applies to receiving a lawyer. Therefore, the requirements of Article 667 of the Civil Code are not fulfilled and receiving a lawyer is not allowed.

Keywords

• imbecile
• appointing a lawyer
• receiving a lawyer
• constituent’s best interest
• Article 667 of the Civil Code
• financial possession

Main Subjects

• Civil jurisprudence

---

References

ʿAllāmah Ḥillī, Ḥasan  ibn Yūsuf. Irshād al-Adhhān ilā Aḥkām al-Īmān. Qum: Mūʾassisa al-Nashr al-Islāmī. 1990/1410.

ʿAllāmah Ḥillī, Ḥasan  ibn Yūsuf. Qawāʾid al-Aḥkām fī Maʿrifa al-Ḥalāl wa al-Ḥarām. Qum: Mūʾassisa al-Nashr al-Islāmī. 1993/1413.

Ayāzī, Muḥammad ʿAlī. Milākāt Aḥkām va Shīvih-hā-yi Istikshāf ān. Qum: Mūʾassisa al-Nashr al-Islāmī. 1970/1389.

Baḥrānī, Yūsuf ibn Aḥmad. al-Ḥadāʾiq al-Nāḍira fī Aḥkām al-ʿItra al-Ṭāḥira. Qum:  Mūʾassisa al-Nashr al-Islāmī. 1985/1363.

Fāḍil Hindī, Muḥammad ibn Ḥasan. Kashf  al-Lithām wa al-Ibhām ʿan Qawāʾid al-Aḥkām. Qum: Mūʾassisa al-Nashr al-Islāmī. 1995/1416.

Fāżil Lankarānī. Muḥammad Javād. Qāʿidah-yi Maysūr. Qum: Markaz-i Fiqhī  Aʾimah Aṭhār(AS). 2017/1396.

Ḥājī ʻAzīzī, Bīzhan, Sayyidah Maryam Iʻtimād. “Ḍimānat Ijrāy ʻAdam Raʻāyt Maṣliḥat dar Vikālat”, Fiqh va Uṣūl. yr. 47, no. 100, Spring 2016/1394, 37-55.

Ḥusaynī ʻĀmulī, Muḥammad Javād ibn Muḥammad. Miftāḥ al-Karāmah fī Sharḥ Qawāʿid ʿAllāma. Beirut: Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Tūrāth al-ʻArabī. s.d.

Ibn Manẓūr, Muḥammad ibn Mukarram. Lisān al-ʿArab. Beirut: Dār al-Ṣādir. Chāp-i Sivum, 1994/1414.

Imāmī, Sayyid Ḥasan. Ḥuqūq-i Madanī. Tehran: Kitābfurūshī Islāmīyah. 2005/1384.

Imāmī, Sayyid Ḥasan. Ḥuqūq-i Madanī. Tehran: Kitābfurūshī Islāmīyah. Chāp-i Bist va Panjum, 2013/1391.

Jaʻfarī  Langirūdī, Muḥammad Jaʻfar. Tasīr Irādih dar Ḥuqūq-i Madanī. Tehran: Ganj-i Dānish. 2007/1385.

Kāshif al-Ghiṭāʾ, Muḥammad Ḥusayn. Taḥrīr al-Majala. Qum: Majmaʻ al-ʿĀlamī   li-Taqrīb al-Madhāhib al-Islāmīya. 2001/1422.

Kātūzīyān, Nāṣir. Davrah-yi  Muqadamātī Ḥuqūq Madanī: Dars-hā-yī az ʿUqūd-i Muʿayyan.  Kitābkhānah Ganj-i Dānish. 1998/1377.

Kātūzīyān, Nāṣir. Qānūn Madanī dar Naẓm Ḥuqūqī Kunūnī. Tehran: Mīzān. Chāp-i Sī va Nuhum, 2014/1392.

Kātūzīyān, Nāṣir.ʿUqūd-i Muʿayyan Ḥuqūq-i Madanī. Tehran: Shirkat Sahāmī Intishār. Chāp-i Panjum,  2007/1385.

Khumaynī, Rūḥ Allāḥ. Taḥrīr al-Wasīlah. Tehran: Mūʾassisah-yi Tanẓīm va Nashr-i Āsār-i  Imām Khumaynī. 1972/1392.

Mīr Khalīlī, Sayyid Aḥmad; Naṣr Allāḥ Jaʻfarī Khusrū Ābādī, Ziynab Zāriʿ. “Ḥimāyat Ḥuqūqī az ʻAqabmāndigān-i Zihnī az Manẓar-i Ḥuqūq-i Pizishkī va Ravīyih-yi Qażāyī Irān”, Faṣlnāmih-yi Ḥuqūq-i Pizishkī. Durih-yi13, no. 50, autumn 2020/1398, 80-107.

Muḥammadī, Ghafār, Tūrān Muḥammadī. “Barrisī Vżʿīyat Vikālat Ṣaghīr Mumayiz va Safīh”, Muṭāliʻāt Ḥuqūq Shahrvandī. No. 23, Shahrīvar 2022/1400, 415-432.

Muḥaqqiq Ḥillī. Jaʻfar ibn Ḥasan. Sharāʾiʿ al-Islām fī Masāʾil al-Ḥalāl wa al-Ḥarām. Qum: Ismāʻīlīyān. 1988/1408.

Muḥaqqiq Karakī, ʿAlī ibn Ḥusayn. Jāmiʿ  al-Maqāṣid fī Sharḥ al-Qawāʾid. Qum: Āl al-Bayt(AS). 1994/1414.

Muqaddas Ardabīlī, Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad. Majmaʻ al-Fāʾida wa al-Burhān fī Sharḥ Irshād al-Adhhān. Qum: Mūʾassisa al-Nashr al-Islāmī. s.d.

Narāqī, Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad Mahdī. al-Rasāʾil wa Masāʾil. Qum: Kungirah-yi Buzurgdāsht  Muḥaqiqān Mulā Mahdī va Mulā Aḥmad Narāqī. 2002/1380.

Parchīn Salafī, Muḥammad Farīd. “Māhīyat Vikālat va Qalamrū Mawḍūʻī ān dar Ḥuqūq-i Irān”, Duvvumīn Kunfirāns ʿIlmī  Pazhūhīsh Rahyāft-hā-yi Nuvīn dar ʻUlūm Insānī Irān. 2019/1397.

Qānūn-i Madanī, Muṣavvab-i 1928/05/08; 1307/02/18.

Rāghib Iṣfahānī, Ḥusayn  ibn Muḥammad. Mufradāt fī Gharīb al-Qurān. Beirut: Dār al-ʻIlm. 1992/1412.

Rahpiyk, Ḥasan. Ḥuqūq Masʾūlīyat-i Madanī va Jubrān-hā. Tehran: Khursandī. 2009/1387.

Sabzawārī, ʻAbd al-Aʿlā. Muhadhdhab al-Aḥkām fī Bayān al-Ḥalāl wa al-Ḥarām. Qum: Sayyid ʻAbd al-Aʿlā Sabzawārī. 1993/1413.

Ṣafāyī, Ḥusayn, Murtaḍā Qāsimzādah. Ḥuqūq Madanī Ashkhāṣ va Maḥjūrīn. Tehran: Samt. 2010/1388.

Ṣāḥib Jawāhir. Muḥammad Ḥasan ibn Bāqir. Jawāhir al-Kalām fī Sharḥ Sharāyʿ al-Islām. Qum: Mūʾassisa Dāyra al-Maʿārif Fiqh Islāmī bar  Mazhab Ahl-i Bayt(AS). 2000/1421.

Sanhūrī, ʻAbd al-Razzāq Aḥmad. Vikālat. Tehran: Ārīyān. 2004/1383.

Shahīd Thānī, Zayn al-Dīn ibn ʿAlī.  al-Rawḍa al-Bahīya fī Sharḥ al-Lumʿah al-Dimashqīyah. Qum: Dāwarī. 1990/1410.

Shahīd Thānī, Zayn al-Dīn ibn ʿAlī. Masālik al-Afhām ilā Tanqīḥ Sharāʾiʿal-Islām. Qum: Mūʾassisa al-Maʿārif al-Islāmīya. 1993/1413.

Shubayrī Zanjānī, Mūsā. Kitāb-i Nikāḥ. Qum: Raʾypardāz. S.d.

Ṭabāṭabāyī, ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad. Rīyāḍ Masāʾil. Qum: Āl al-Bayt(AS). 1984/1404.