Securing Performance of Obligations

in civil law, the establishment of supplementary property measures to ensure the precise performance of obligations. In Soviet civil law such measures are liquidated damages (fine, penalty), pledges (mortgages), deposits, suretyships, and guarantees. These measures are also used to compensate, either partially or fully, for losses caused to one of the parties as a result of the nonfulfillment or improper fulfillment of obligations.

The enumerated methods of securing the performance of obligations are applied on the basis of law or by an agreement between the participants in the basic obligation; they are the debtor’s supplementary obligations. The method used depends not only on legal precepts or the agreement between the parties, but also on who participates in the basic obligation. Whereas liquidated damages, pledges, and suretyships are used to secure the performance of obligations by both citizens and organizations, deposits are used only in obligations between citizens or obligations in which they participate, and guarantees are used only in obligations between socialist organizations.