Ex tunc means “from the beginning” and is used in law to describe situations where a law or ruling applies to past events. It can have a retroactive effect and is commonly used in contract law. It can also be applied to patent or intellectual property decrees. Ex tunc laws are rare due to legal complications.
Ex tunc is a legal phrase meaning “from the beginning”. It is generally used in law to describe situations in which a law or ruling applies to past events, rather than present events moving forward. An ex tunc judgment or law could have a retroactive effect in certain cases, in the sense that events prior to the existence of the judgment or law could be judged according to it.
Commonly, ex tunc issues are closely related to contract law. In any type of contract, be it a commercial agreement, a marriage, or a lease, an ex tunc judgment could hold that the contract was valid, invalid, or impaired as of the inception of the contract, rather than the date of the judgment. In marriage, for example, divorce dissolves the union from the date of the judgment onwards, while annulment decrees that the marriage was never valid. Annulment, therefore, is an ex tunc judgment, while divorce is known as an ex nunc, or “henceforth” judgment.
Determining whether a legal decision is effective from the outset or may be vital to awarding damages in certain trials. With an invalid lease, for example, a landlord could be ordered to pay rent back to the tenant if the lease is declared void ex tunc. If it is declared ex nunc, however, the tenant may be out of any rent paid, since the invalidity takes effect only from the date of the sentence.
Rulings and judgments “from the outset” are also sometimes applied to patent or intellectual property decrees. If a person patents a design, then makes a significant change to the design, he or she may need to apply for a patent modification. In some patent law systems, the modification could be declared ex tunc, meaning that the patent for the altered design legally existed from the beginning. While this may seem somewhat illogical, it helps streamline the patent process and can help reduce patent litigation based on imitations or slightly altered products.
An ex tunc law is a fairly rare event, as retroactive effects can cause serious legal complications. If people have been prosecuted under a law that was declared invalid ex tunc, there may be confusion about the legality of all previous trials and the need for reparations made to those who have been tried and convicted under a law that was now considered invalid from the outset. . For this reason, many laws that repeal or modify previous statutes come into force from the date of the sentence onwards.
Protect your devices with Threat Protection by NordVPN
