Civil liability in urban law — some contributions from portuguese case law

Abstract

This article aims to develop some of the main questions that arise on the subject of civil liability in urban law, such as the consequences of illegal licensing and the concepts of unlawfulness behaviour, culpability, damages and causal link.

It intends to offer a practical vision of these topics, with examples of portuguese case law, also creating na opportunity to reflect and discuss some of the concepts that we usually apply in the decision-making process and its adequacy to the modern times.

It starts with a brief description of the legal framework applied to civil liability in urban law and then it focuses on the topics of unlawfulness behaviour, culpability, damages and causal link.

First, the article discusses what is an illegal licensing and what legal requirements have to be fulfilled in order to know if the conduct of the public administration gives an individual the right to some kind of compensation due to that illegal conduct.

Then, it develops the concept of culpability, especially those cases where the individual has also been at fault or negligent and therefore the pecuniary compensation should be reduced or even excluded, despite the illegal licensing. Thirdly, it addresses the topic of damages and casual link, in order to know what should be included in the compensation for damages and if the violation of legal rules about the urbanistic procedure should entitle the individual to compensation.