1. Can you be held liable for breach of contract if the contract is not signed? The Civil Code stipulates that if the parties to the contract do not sign, the contract is not established. An unestablished contract is not legally binding, so no breach of contract will occur and cannot be pursued for breach of contract. responsibility. Article 490 of the "People's Republic of China and Civil Code" When the contract is established, if the parties conclude the contract in the form of a contract, the contract shall be established when both parties sign, seal or fingerprint. Before signing, sealing or fingerprinting, one party has performed its main obligations and the contract is established when the other party accepts it. Laws and administrative regulations stipulate or the parties agree that a contract should be concluded in written form. If the parties do not use written form but one party has performed its main obligations and the other party accepts it, the contract is established. Article 577 If a party liable for breach of contract fails to perform its contractual obligations or performs its contractual obligations inconsistently with the agreement, it shall be liable for breach of contract such as continuing to perform, taking remedial measures, or compensating for losses.
II. Characteristics of damages for breach of contract 1. Damages are a kind of civil liability arising from the debtor's failure to perform or inappropriate performance of contractual obligations. After the contract comes into effect, if the creditor suffers damage due to the debtor's breach of contract, the original contractual debt relationship between the parties will be transformed into a debt relationship for damages. Damages as a form of liability for breach of contract are different from damages in contractual fault liability, damages after the contract is invalidated, and damages after the contract is revoked in that it can only be based on the premise of the existence of a legal and valid contract. Damages for breach of contract do not apply if the contract does not exist, is void or is revoked. 2. In principle, damages are only compensatory and not punitive. Compensation for breach of contract is a type of civil liability. It should be the same as other civil liabilities. From the legal nature, it only has the function of compensation and abandons the function of punishment. Furthermore, based on the principle of equivalent compensation in civil law, any civil subject that causes damage to others must compensate it with an equivalent amount of property. After one party breaches the contract, the breaching party must compensate the other party for all losses suffered due to the breach of contract. This principle also fully applies to damages for breach of contract, that is, damages should be compensatory, and their main purpose is to compensate or compensate for the damage suffered by the creditor due to breach of contract. 3. The principle of compensation for damages is to compensate the injured party for all the damages suffered due to the other party’s breach of contract. If one party improperly performs or fails to perform the contract, the other party will not only suffer the loss of reduced existing property, but also the loss of expected benefits. These losses deserve to be fully compensated. Through analysis, we know that according to the provisions of the Civil Code, if the parties conclude a contract in the form of a contract, the contract is established when both parties sign, seal or fingerprint. If the contract is not signed, the contract will not be established. An unestablished contract will not result in a breach of contract, so liability for breach of contract cannot be claimed.