The Pandemic and Change of Circumstances in Italy

The contribution is divided into two parts. The first describes the essential lines of the discipline of contingencies (change of circumstances in a broad sense) in Italian law with some comparisons with English common law. In particular, two subdivisions of the subject are presented. The former is the distinction between contingencies that disrupt the exchange covered by the contract in a qualitative sense and contingencies that disrupt the exchange covered by the contract in a quantitative sense. The latter is the distinction between typical contingencies, that is, legally foreseen and disciplined, and atypical contingencies, that is, not governed by the contract or by the law and which can make the fairness (equità, aequitas) criterion intervene. After this premise, the author analyses two hypotheses of lease contracts, those for commercial use and those for the residence of university off-site students, which can be considered examples of typical contingencies and atypical contingencies, respectively. Th e author concludes with a reference to quantitative contingencies with regard to which he takes into consideration the remedies of termination, equitable adjustment and renegotiation.