From Bona Fides to Laba Ticība: Historical Interpretation of Good Faith Principle in Latvian Law to Protect Payment Service Consumers’ Rights from De-Banking

This paper focuses on a scientific analysis of the genesis and historical development of the good faith principle as a doctrinal interpretation of the Latvian regulations’ governing issues when closing a payment account against a consumer’s will. Starting from the origin of bona fides in archaic Roman law and its rediscovery by Justinian’s Corpus Juris Civilis, passing through its application in the western medieval ius commune and its continental renaissance in the early twentieth century, noting its limited place in the Code of Civil Laws of the Baltic Provinces and paying tribute to its triumph in Latvian Civil Law, this paper focuses on the evolution of attitudes towards this principle in modern legal science and case law. This comparative historical research shows that a clear definition of good faith could be found through a system-historical interpretation of the good faith rule. This should help identify the target essence of subjective rights and duties under each legal rule governing specific legal relationships. Therefore, when de-banking, in view of good faith, the target essence of a bank’s right to withdraw from an account contract is to save justice by respecting the justified consumer’s interest in retaining payment services.