Page 386 - Latent Defect or Excessive Price?Exploring Early Modern Legal Approach to Remedying Defects in Goods Exchanged for Money - Bruijn
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CODES OF CIVIL LAW
7.6 The Código civil Español (1889)
Spain, and Castile in particular, had known a rich tradition of statute-promulgating Kings and Queens. At the dawn of what is generally acknowledged as the codification era, Castile had already experienced the birth of various statutes which provided rules for remedies for defects in the thing sold.254 The last of these was the Novísima Recopilación (1805), which was promulgated at the eleventh hour before the revolutionary storm which had broken out in France would likewise overwhelm Spain's Antiguo Régimen.255
However, it would still take some time before Spain acquired its own national civil code.256 In 1843, with the introduction of a 'Comission of State for Codification', a cumbersome period began of preparatory efforts for a Spanish civil code. A first draft was produced in 1851. Finally, with the promulgation of the Código civil (henceforth: Código) in 1889, a statute entered into force which, in accordance with the prevailing laissez faire attitude, strongly emphasized the importance of keeping contracts intact.257
The Código's emphasis on legal certainty clashed with the perceived workings of the remedy for lesion beyond moiety. In the third chapter of this study, it was argued that in Castile's legal practice this remedy had gradually ousted the remedies for latent defects based on the aedilician edict as the most important means to remedy a sale in which the seller had delivered a defective object.258 The Código presents a shift in legal thinking in this regard. Its most influential drafter Florencia García Goyena (1783-1855) put the use of particular remedies for latent defects again back into the limelight of sales law. Though since the Siete Partidas the use of aedilician-inspired remedies had been left in the black books, in the Código they again take over the role as the preferred method for remedying latent defects. As presently discussed, according to the Código's provisions the only post- delivery grounds for rescission of a contract between adults are eviction, latent defects, or burdens on the sold thing. A lesion beyond moiety no longer constitutes a separate ground to rescind a contract.259
7.6.1 Structure of the Código civil
The Código's structure is roughly based on the French Code civil. General provisions on the law of obligations which touch upon matters discussed in this book appear in 4.1.4-6. The Código copies the Code civil's provisions on la garantie in sales in section 4.4.1 and
254 See 3.2.1.
255 Tomás y Valiente, Manual, pp. 401ff.
256 Tomás y Valiente, Manual, pp. 483ff.
257 Artículo 1293 Código: Ningún contrato se rescindirá por lesión, fuera de los casos mencionados en los
números 1.o y 2.o del artículo 1.291; Tomas y Valiente, Manual, pp. 414-417: \[about Spain's implementation of measures to liberalize the economy\] 'De estos principios teóricos legalmente protegidos se derivaron dos fundamentales consecuencias jurídicas: Primera, que el contrato de trabajo agrario o industrial deberá concertarse entre dos individuos, el empresario y el trabajador, sin intervención de terceros y sin fijación por parte del Estado de condiciones mínimas de jornal ni educación'.
258 See 3.5.
259 However, in some regions local custom in which the remedy was accepted remained in force. See Tomás
y Valiente, Manual, pp. 491-492.
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