Page 382 - Latent Defect or Excessive Price?Exploring Early Modern Legal Approach to Remedying Defects in Goods Exchanged for Money - Bruijn

CODES OF CIVIL LAW
mentioning. Despite the BW's being based on the natural law idea of commutative justice in contracts, it does not contain the remedy for lesion beyond moiety in the BW 1838. In the light of the legal tradition in the Dutch Republic and the Code civil which both accepted the remedy to a certain degree, this is a remarkable thing. Therefore, due attention will be paid to the subject in section 7.5.4.
7.5.2 The Burgerlijk wetboek 1838 on latent defects
“The safeguarding for latent defects in the thing sold', said Beelaerts van Blokland, 'is completely in agreement with the \[French\] code now in force and has not raised objections in the \[treatment of the\] sections”.233
Though Carel Asser (1780-1836)234 points at some minor adjustments235, the quoted Member of Parliament was for the major part correct. The BW's 1838 law about latent defects did not differ much from that in the Code civil. For subjects not discussed here, the reader is therefore referred to their treatment in the section on the Code civil.
7.5.2.1 Vrijwaring of latent defects in the Burgerlijk wetboek 1838
Though the BW 1838 does not explicitly mention the commutative character of contracts in which both parties have to perform, it maintains the French garantie, a general duty to the seller to safeguard the absence of defects in sold things, which duty originated in the theory of fairness in exchange.236 According to articles 1510 BW 1838, the Dutch seller has the duty to safeguard (vrijwaring) the goods he sells from defects. The shape this duty takes to a large degree follows the French model.
7.5.3 Limitation periods
The influence of the Code civil comes clearly to the fore in the BW's arrangement of limitation of remedies for latent defects. As in the French civil code, the BW dogmatically separates the duty to safeguard from latent defects from the duty to perform and uses local custom to determine the limitation periods of the remedies for defects in movables while remedies for non-performance expire in accordance with the general rules on limitation.237 However, the Dutch regions did not know any local custom pertaining to the limitation periods for defects.238 Consequently, county judges filled in the article's content.
233 Voorduin, Geschiedenis en beginselen, vol. 5, p. 186: “De vrijwaring', zeide de Heer Beelaerts van Blokland, 'wegens gebreken aan de verkochte zaak bevonden, is geheel overeenkomstig het tegenwoordig geldend \[Fransche\] wetboek, en heeft ook geen bedenkingen in de afdelingen ondergaan”.
234 J. van Kuyk, 'Asser, Carel', in: NNBW, vol. 3, pp. 42-44.
235 Asser, Het Nederlandsch burgerlijk wetboek vergeleken, pp. 517-518. E.g. article 1543 BW 1838 has the
price reduction, which according to the Cc must be assessed by experts, carried out by the judge, after
having been informed by experts; Diephuis, Burgerlijk Regt, vol. 11, p. 315.
236 Section 7.3.2.1.
237 Art. 1547 BW 1838: De regtsvordering, voortspruitende uit gebreken die de vernietiging van den koop
ten gevolge hebben, moet door den kooper aangelegd worden binnen eenen korten tijd, overeenkomstig den aard dier gebreken, en met inachtneming der gebruiken van de plaats alwaar de koop gesloten is; artt. 2004-2014 BW 1838
238 Sasse van IJsselt, Vrijwaring, p. 54: '... dat naar bekomene inlichtingen in de meeste streken van ons vaderland geene plaatselijke gebruiken gevonden worden'.
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