THE RESURGENCE OF UNFORESEEN CIRCUMSTANCES THEORY IN CHILE, A NEW OPPORTUNITY: RULING OF THE CHILEAN SUPREME COURT, CASE No. 161.630-2023

Abstract

This paper will analyze a ruling from the Honorable Supreme Court, which, in the context of a summary judgment for the termination of a lease contract, rejected an appeal for cassation on the merits through the express application of the theory of unforeseen circumstances. This ruling could be considered unprecedented in many aspects, as it is the first to apply this legal figure even in the absence of an explicit law that enshrines it.  
It is necessary to make it clear that judges lack the authority to modify contractual matters; the general rule is the binding force of contracts or pacta sunt servanda. However, in Civil Law, there exists the so-called theory of unforeseen circumstances, an exceptional legal figure whose purpose is to alter the immutable nature of contracts through judicial intervention in the face of extraordinary circumstances.