Page 115 - Latent Defect or Excessive Price?Exploring Early Modern Legal Approach to Remedying Defects in Goods Exchanged for Money - Bruijn

EARLY MODERN CASTILAN LAW
event of the third situation \[sc. the defect does not invalidate the contact\], there is granted an action for price reduction, which lasts one year, counted from the sale's conclusion, as follows from D. 21.1.1, D. 21.1.19.6, D. 21.1.48.2, C. 4.58.2 and Siete Partidas 5.5.65... If these periods have lapsed, none of the aforementioned remedies lie, because they die in that period and it is not allowed to bring them later, as C. 4.58.2 explicitly has it. Covarrubias and many others which he cites observe very well that these kind of remedies also extinguish in the event of a seller in bad faith. The reason for that is that they are not granted for a longer period by civil law. In the forum internum, however, the seller is liable to return the price, even after the remedy has extinguished, if the contract's conclusion was the result of deceit. He has to reduce the price, if the contract was valid, but deceit provided a ground for its partial rescission. He is held accordingly in the forum internum and by the nature of the case. Moreover, these remedies can not die because of bad faith, no, even with good faith they cannot die in such a short time span'.169
Molina furthermore shirks the discussion about the Accursian distinction, defended by Bartolus, between short aedilician remedies and long civil remedies on the contract. Neither does Molina go into details concerning the remedy for fraud (actio de dolo). Seemingly acknowledging his lack of experience with similar legal subtleties, he cautiously remarks 'let that be more diligently studied by legal scholars'.170
By and large, the legal scholars which Molina refers to subscribe to the short periods of limitation without even taking notice of an existing alternative in the name of a civil remedy on the contract.
Albornoz expresses this majority view which is also found with Gómez, López and Villadiego. It seems as if the civil remedies against a seller in bad faith which lasted for 30 years have vanished altogether from Castilian civil law doctrine:171
169 Molina, De iustitia et iure, vol. 2, disp. 353, no. 5, p. 244: '...dari emptori in foro exteriori actionem redhibitoriam, quae de iure communi, et castellae, durat sex menses a die celebrati contractus, et in eventu tertiae \[sc. partis\] dari actionem quanto minoris, quae a die celebrati contractus durat per annum, constant ex l.1, et l. sciendum, § ult. l. si tamen, § non nocebit, ff. de aedil. edict. ex l. cum proponas. C. de aedil. action. et ex l. 65 iunctis duabus praecedentibus, tit 5, part. 5... quibus transactis, nulla predictarum actionum locum habet, eo quod tempore illo praescribantur, nec ulterius intentari permittantur, ut leg. cum proponas C. de aedilit. actio. expresse habetur. Optime autem Covar. reg. possessor. part. 2. §II. nu. 5, cum multis aliis, quos citat, observat, eiusmodi actiones praescribi, etiam cum mala venditoris fide. Cuius rei ea est ratio, quod non longiori tempore a iure sint concessae. In foro tamen conscientiae, tenetur venditor, etiam post actionem praescriptam, ad reddendum pretium, quando dolus causam dedit contractui et ad illud minuendum, quando dolus incidit in contractu, quoniam ad haec in conscientiae foro, atque ex natura ipsa rei tenetur, eaque praescribi cum mala fide non possunt, imo, neque cum bona fide possunt tam brevi tempore praescribi...'.
170 Molina, De iustitia et iure, vol. 2, disp. 353, no. 5, p. 244: 'Gloss. l. Julianus in princ. \[Gloss quanto minoris to
D. 19.1.13(14)pr\] et Bart. \[Commentaria, vol. 1, to D. 19.1.13(14)pr, no. 2, fo. 126v\] affirmant, quamvis praedictae actiones, quae de iure sunt praetorio, intra dictum tempus praescribantur, manere tamen actionem ex vendito, quae est de iure civili et perpetua. Covarru. etiam loco citato cum Panorm. et aliis asseverat, manere etiam actionem de dolo: haec tamen diligentius jurisperiti examinent'.
171 Gómez, Variarum resolutiones, 2.2, no. 48, p. 236; López in his introduction to SP 5.5.65, in: Los códigos españoles, vol. 3, p. 632; Villadiego Vascuña y Montoya, Instrucción, ch. 8, no. 41, fo. 154v.
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