1 / 21

Pacta sunt servanda : Pillar or Crutch of European legal tradition?

Pacta sunt servanda : Pillar or Crutch of European legal tradition?. Dmitry Poldnikov Higher School of Economics, Moscow. Legal principles as important part of European legal tradition. The importance of principles is widely accepted by European academics, legislators and courts.

raven
Download Presentation

Pacta sunt servanda : Pillar or Crutch of European legal tradition?

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Pactasuntservanda: Pillar or Crutch of European legal tradition? Dmitry Poldnikov Higher School of Economics, Moscow

  2. Legal principles as important part of European legal tradition The importance of principles is widely accepted by European academics, legislators and courts. ‘General principles common to the laws of Member States’ of the EU are mentioned in art. 215(2) in the Treaty of Rome. The European Court in DinekeAlgera et al. v. Common Assembly, E.C.R. 39 (1957) But what are they?

  3. No clear idea of legal principles? • Legal definition of a ‘principle’ is missing. • Academic definitions are defined, inter alia, as: • general models for projecting and applying specific rules (i.e. rules strictosensu)– Sigrid Jacoby • a high standard other rules should comply with, means to correct and support the ruling in a particular case – Humberto Avila

  4. Pactasuntservanda as legal principle of Civil Law One of the best known legal principles in civil law since the Middle Ages till present days. It matches all the criteria of a legal principle. It can be discovered in all major codifications on the European continent. But does it have clear and constant meaning?

  5. Different meaning behind common wording? a) No exact legal wording. b) Contradictorypopularsayings(adages) in Europe: e.g. “Si prende il bue per le corna e l’uomo con la parola” but “Nessuno è schiavo della sua parola” or “Promettre et tenirsontdeux”. (credits to Andreas Wacke) c) Different requirements for the contract from jurisdiction to jurisdiction (meaning of consensus, formation procedure, requirements and meaning of cause etc.). d) Variations of national court practices. e) Growing number of exemptions (e.g. clausula rebus sic stantibus, consumer protection rules). f) Different purposes for the same wording: from overcoming pactanuda in Roman law to keeping-up security in transactions

  6. New Wine into Old Wineskins? I. ‘Pactasuntservanda’ was coined to overcome the Roman rule (ex nudapactaactio non nascitur) in Canon Law (Thomas Aquinas: “mendaciumestsiquis non impleat quod promisit” SummaTheol. II–II. qu. 110, a. 3) II. Pactum had different meaning in Medieval Ius Commune (XII-XVII c.) III. IusCommune as cradle for new contractual theory and general notion of contract

  7. Transformatiolegalis

  8. Contractual Theory of Glossators 1.actio ius 2. contractus contractus pactum 3. Vestimentum pactorum Glossatores Bononienses

  9. Testamentum, Canones, Decretum «…mendacium est si quis non impleat quod promisit... mendacium ob hoc indetur esse peccatum quia per ipsum homo decipit proximum». (Thomas Aquinas. Summa Theol. II – II. qu. 110, art. 3) promissio non impleta = mendacium = peccatum Iuscanonicum Pacta sunt servanda condictio ex canone

  10. consuetudines mercatorum «Domus mercatorum debet esse domus veritatis et aequitatis»(Angelus Aretinus (1418–1461). Consilia, cons. 219). Lexmercatoria Aequitas mercatoria Promissio obligatoria

  11. consuetudines gentium, gute Sitten, coutumes, costumbres… «Ein Mann – ein Wort» «Swer icht borget oder gelobt, der sal iz gelden, und swaz her tut, daz sal he stete halden» (Sachsenspiegel, Buch 1, Art. 7). Vertragstreue «Toutes convenances font a tenir, et pour ce dit on: Convenance vaint loi» (Ph. de Beaumanoir(1247- 1296), Coutumes de Beauvaisis. Cap. 34. Art. 999. P.1). Customary law

  12. Сorpus iuris civilis Ex pacta nuda actio non oritur. (Andrea Alciatus(1492 - 1550).Comm. lib. 5, cap. 3. tom. 4. col. 117. «…de conventioneseriopacta et conclusa... et oriturefficaxactio... et ita in utroqueforoseculari et ecclesiastico...»(CharlesDumoulin (1500 - 1566). Comm. in D.45.1. n. 42. tom. 4. col. 138). Humanismus

  13. Mores hodierni, Forum, altdeutsches Recht Promissio non impleta = peccatum  condictio ex canone • pacta nuda  condictio ex canone ex moribus ex consuetudine • stupulatio = pactum nudum? UsusmodernusPandectarum • pactum • systema pactorum novum?  Ius naturale…

  14. Ratio scripta  Ratio naturalis Iusnaturalenovum Johannes Althusius (1557-1638) consensus = voluntas (!) pactanuda = pactalegitima = contractusinnominatus

  15. Hugo Grotius(1583–1645) Doctrinapromissionis • De jure belli ac pacis libri tres (1625) • Inleiding tot de hollandsche Rechtsgeleerdheid (1619) gradus = contractus

  16. Pacta sunt servanda = consensus Samuel von Pufendorf(1632 – 1694) Consensual Contract Fragmentary Notion ofContract

  17. Grotius + Pufendorf + usus modernus promissio + acceptatio = consensus duorum Christian Thomasius (1655-1728) Summa doctrinarum General Notion of Contract (pactum)

  18. Ius naturale, Christian Thomasius = actio de iure naturale = Christian Wolff (1679-1754) Spread of General Notion Voluntas – causa obligationis sufficiens

  19. «Les loix civiles dans leurs ordre naturel» (1689) «Les conventions sont les engagements qui se forment par le consentement mutuel de deux ou plusieurs personnes qui se font entr’eux une loi d’executer ce qu’ils promettent… Les conventions s’accomplissent par le consentement mutuel donné et arrêté réciproquement...» (Titre I, 1, 1). Jean Domat (1625-1696) «Traité des obligations» (1761) «Une convention ou un pacte (car ce sont termes synonymes) est le consentement de deux ou plusieurs personnes, ou pour former entr’elles quelque engagement, ou pour en résoudre un précédent, ou pour le modifier… Le contrat renferme le concours des volontés de deux personnes, dont l’une promet quelque chose à l’autre, et l’autre accepte la promesse qui lui est faite» (Traité. Nr. 3-4). Ius naturale Franciae Robert Joseph Pothier (1699-1772)

  20. Codex Maximilianeus Bavaricus civilis(1756) «Conventiones... werden zwar nach Römischen Rechte in Pacta et Contractus getheilt... aber heut zu Tage allen Pactis die nemliche Kraft und Würkung, wie einem Contract beygelegt ist, so fallt auch obige Abtheilung samt dem Unterschied zwischen denen sogenannten Pactis nudis, legitimis, vestitis vel adjectis hinweg» (CMC IV, 1, § 3). Codex Theresianus(1753–1766) «Ein Vertrag ist eine mit zweier oder mehrerer Personen Vereinigung aufgerichtete Handlung, woraus Einer dem Anderen etwas zu leisten verpflichtet wird…» (III, II, § 5, n. 32, n. 45). «…so kommt durch den Übereinstimmenden Willen beyder Theile ein Vertrag zu Stande». § 861 ABGB Das Allgemeine Landrecht (1794) «Durch die Annahme eines gültigen Versprechens wird der Vertrag geschlossen» (ALR. I, 5, § 79). «Die Erklärung, einem Andern ein Recht übertragen, oder eine Verbindlichkeit gegen denselben übernehmen zu wollen, heißt Versprechen» (ALR. I, 5, § 2). First Codifications Code Civil(1804) «Le contrat est une convention par laquelle une ou plusieurs personnes s'obligent envers une ou plusieurs autres, à donner, à faire ou à ne pas faire quelque chose» (art. 1101).

  21. Pactasuntservandaand Security • Academic community makes efforts to renovate the principles to meet the needs of the united Europe. • Emerging new principle of contractual security? • Principles of European Contract Law (PECL) • Principesdirecteursby Association Henri Capitant (2005) (art. 0:201 “A contract which is lawfully concluded has binding force between the parties”) • Draft Common Frame of Reference for EU (2009) (Introduction §§17-20, art. II-1:103: The principle of binding force)

More Related