Page 121 - Latent Defect or Excessive Price?Exploring Early Modern Legal Approach to Remedying Defects in Goods Exchanged for Money - Bruijn

EARLY MODERN CASTILAN LAW
other kind of vessels without revealing a defect while being aware of it or ignorantly sells them for sound, as a result of which wine is spoilt or corrupted and he does not want to compensate the lost wine and other loss, D. 19.2.19.1. Yet, this is different as concerns the forum internum, if he simply leases them out ignorantly while saying to the lessee that he does not know whether they are defect and that he would consequently resolve the sale, if they happened to be so. The same rule must be applied to all other defects from which damage might result'.194
From the first quoted phrases, it follows that Azpilcueta discards the gist of D. 19.2.19.1 and D. 19.1.6.4 that even a lessor or seller of defective wine-barrels who happen to be in good faith are liable for all loss. In his view, that requires either knowledge ('being aware of it') or a warranty given ('selling for sound'), which is in flat contradiction to the content of the Digest texts he refers to. In another place, Azpilcueta indeed emphasises that only sellers in bad faith can commit sins and are liable to make restitution in the forum internum.195
Medina also exempts the ignorant seller from liability. In his De poenitentia he only accepts a duty to make restitution resting on sellers who have known the defect.
'If a seller ignorant of the defect sells the thing in good faith for the price it would be worth when in good condition, he is excused from fault (culpa). When he \[afterwards\] comes to know about the defect, he shall be liable at the buyer's request to either rescind the contract or to restore its equality, since that is the same as if prejudice in the thing itself occurs without fraud by him who sells'.196
García likewise emphasises the requirement of knowledge. A seller has to have sold a defective thing 'on purpose (de proposito)'. His Tratado utilissimo remains consequently limited to the liability of knowing sellers.197
The view of the forum internum that only fraudulent behaviour triggers full liability and the
194 Azpilcueta, Enchiridion, cap. 17, no. 58, fo. 239v: 'Septuagintesimosexto, qui dolia vel alia vas vitiosa scienter non patefacto vitio locat aut ignorans eorum vitium pro integris vendit, ob quod vinum effusum est aut damnificatum et damnum vini et interesse solvere non vult, l. sed addes, § si quis, ff. locat. quamvis secus sit saltem quoad forum conscientiae si ignorans vitium simpliciter locavit, dicens conductori, nescire se illa esse vitiosa, et ideo displiceret, an essent talia. Quod ipsum est dicendum de omnibus aliis vitiosis, ex quibus damnum sequi potest'.
195 Azpilcueta, Enchiridion, c. 23, no. 89, fo. 337r-v: 'Idem de venditore qui sciens rem vitiosam sine declaratione vitii vendit nescienti... Dixi (sciens) quia nesciens celando non peccat, licet cum res sciverit, tenebitur ad resarciendum damnum emptori, (A seller who knowingly sells a defective thing without a declaration of the defect to someone who is not aware \[sins\]... I say 'knowingly', because someone who ignorantly leaves the defect undisclosed does not sin, whereas when he knows that fact, he will be liable to make restitution of the damages to the buyer)'.
196 Medina, De poenitentia, q. 34, p. 213: 'Si venditor ignorans rei defectum, eam cum bona fide vendit pro pretio quod res si talem defectum non haberet, valeret, a culpa excusatur. Cum tamen rei defectum cognoverit, tenebitur ad instantiam emptoris vel contractum rescindere, vel eum ad aequalitatem reducere, quia perinde est, ac si defraudatio in re ipsa eveniret sine dolo vendentis'; De la Calle, Instrucción, fo. 21: 'si sabiendo lo que passa, lo vende peca, y es obligado a restitucion, y si lo vendo no sabiendo no peca. Mas es obligado a restitucion del daño luego que sepa del daño'.
197 García, Tratado, p. 380: 'Quando de proposito se vende una cosa viciosa a otro la vendicion se tiene por illicita'. This seems to rule out the contract's illicitness, if the seller did not defraud the buyer on purpose. García on the subsequent pages only deals with sales in which the seller knowingly concealed defects.
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