Page 108 - Latent Defect or Excessive Price?Exploring Early Modern Legal Approach to Remedying Defects in Goods Exchanged for Money - Bruijn

CHAPTER THREE
give cause to a liability of the seller.138 Again no distinction is made between corporeal or non-corporeal defects.
Yet, Gregorio López (c. 1490-1560)139, a commentator to the Siete Partidas, persists in interpreting SP 5.5.64 in keeping with ius commune-doctrine:
'But why is he here sued with the redhibitoria, since this remedy is not granted in the event of non-corporeal defects, see D. 21.1.4pr? Understand this in conformity with Baldus' commentary on C. 4.58.4, viz. that against a seller who knowingly kept silent about the defect, every action gets stricter because of dolus. Thus he can be sued for returning the price with all resulting damages and to take back the thing sold'.140
López understands the Siete Partidas as granting a civil remedy for a breach of warranty. In keeping with medieval ius commune he does not accept rescission in the event of an unknowing seller of a thief, because for non-corporeal defects no remedy lies, unless the seller had acted fraudulently or in breach of a given warranty. Hevia Bolaño repeats López' interpretation of the Siete Partidas in accordance with medieval ius commune doctrine. According to this scholar, in the event of non-corporeal defects the aedilician actio redhibitoria does not lie and the Siete Partidas only grant these remedies in case the seller had acted in bad faith.141
Molina who discusses both ius commune as in Castilian law on the topic, reaches the same conclusion as Hevia Bolaño's. He also explains the Siete Partidas in accordance with medieval ius commune doctrine.
'Observe here, that, as stated in D. 21.1.4, there is the following difference between non-corporeal and corporeal defects. The seller is not liable for non-corporeal defects, unless he stipulated and promised that, in the event of a slave or draught animal, it would not suffer from this or that non-corporeal defect. Then he must rescind the sale
138 SP 5.5.65: ... alguna mala enfermedad o tacha... \[my emphasis\].
139 López' gloss 'si lo sabe el vendedor' to SP 5.5.65: 'idem dic, et si ignoret, ut in l . 1, § causa huius edicti,
2, D. de aedil. edict. \[D. 21.1.2\]', in: Los códigos españoles, vol. 3, p. 631; López was a lawyer at the Royal Chancery in Granada, oydor in the Royal Chancery of Valladolid, and chancelor in the Council for the Indies, S. de Dios de Dios, 'López, Gregorio' in: DBE, vol. 30, p. 239-244.
140 Gloss de recebir el siervo to SP 5.5.64: 'Sed quare hic competit huic actio redhibitoria, cum propter vitia animi non detur, D. 21.1.4pr? Dic secundum Bald. in l. 4. C. de aedil. action. \[Baldus, Commentaria, to C. 4.58.4, fo. 132\] quod hic propter dolum venditoris, qui sciens vitium tacuit, omnis actio degenerat, et ideo potest conveniri ut pretium reddat cum damnis, et rem accipiat', in: Los códigos españoles, vol. 3, p. 631, gloss de recebir el siervo to SP 5.5.64.
141 Hevia Bolaño, Laberinto, 1.13.16, p. 149: 'Empero la accion redhibitoria no se da en el esclavo por vicio o defeto del animo, segun un texto, l. ob quae vitia, § animi, ff. de aedil. edict. \[D. 21.1.31.1\], sino es que el vendedor asseguro o dixo que no le tenia conforme, conforme otro texto, l. quod si nolit, § si venditor, ff. de aedil. edict \[D. 21.1.31.1\], por ser en el hombre accidental y poderse curar por contraria voluntad, segun Baldo in l. 1, eo lu. 4, C. eod. tit., Bald. in l. 2, C. eod. tit. \[Commentaria, to C. 4.58.1, no. 25, fo . 131v, to C. 4.58.2, fo. 132\], salvo por dolo del vendedor en saber el vicio y callarle, segun una ley de Partida, l. 64, tit. 5, p. 5, en cuyo caso todas las acciones degeneran, y asi puede ser convenido por esta a que reciba la cosa y buelva el precio, segun Baldo, Bald. ubi supra, mas aunque lo ignore ha lugar el quanto minoris, segun la dicha ley de Partida, l. 64, tit. 5, p. 5'; idem, 1.13.10, pp. 147-148: 'Esta redhibitorio o quanto minoris ha lugar en los vicios o defectos corporales de la cosa por que se impide su uso, segun una glossa, (gloss in l. 1, § aiunt aediles \[D. 21.1.1\] et in § sed sciendum, ff. de aedil. edict \[D. 21.1.7\] et per text ibi)'.
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