Page 182 - Latent Defect or Excessive Price?Exploring Early Modern Legal Approach to Remedying Defects in Goods Exchanged for Money - Bruijn

LEGAL HUMANISM
to their view. The aedilician edict
'... entails a condemnation for the double if the defendant does not appear before the judge, see D. 21.1.45. And because D. 21.1.23.4 shows it, in my opinion, the aedilian remedies appear to be penal'.103
A different approach is found with Doneau. He likewise notes that the buyer could sue for a condemnation for the double,104 but he does not interpret the words in duplum of D. 21.1.45 as referring to a penalty of twice the price paid for the object. Doneau provides an alternative explanation. The condemnation for the double means that a seller can be forced i) to return the sum paid by the buyer, and ii) to absolve the buyer from his duty to pay for the defective thing he bought. If the seller had already fulfilled one of these demands, he could be condemned only for the other, hence in simplum. If not, he will be condemned to do both (in duplum). In Doneau's view, the terminology found here has nothing to do with a supposed penal character of the remedy with an underlying idea of inflicting damage. The terms only indicate that the claim the buyer of a defective thing has consists of two parts.105 Doneau's approach is illustrative of his inclination to treat the duty to deliver free from defects as an integral part of the sales contract.106
4.2.2 Extension to lease
Could the aedilician remedies be brought in the event of delivery of defective things in other contracts than sales? This question notably applies to lease. After all, the sales contract and the contract for lease107 are very similar, 'too such an extent that you can
103 Cuiacius, Opera omnia, vol. 1, p. 778 D: 'Mirabitur aliquis cur aedilitiae actiones ... inductae sint, cum sint civiles ex empto vendito, ut mirari simili modo Pomponius contigit in edicto Nautae capones: in cui et simili modo Pomponio respondeatur, inductas ideo, ut innotesceret aedilis curam agere ne emptores a venditoribus circumvenirentur et quia edictum in aliqua parte durius est, quippe cum in duplum condemnatio fiat nisi arbitrio pareatur, l. 45, hoc.tit. , et ob id ipsum, meo iudicio, proditum est l. 23, § si servus, aedilitias actiones poenales esse videri'; I cannot see why Cujas' opinion on the remedies' penal character is unclear, as Vecchi proclaims in ‘La garanzia’, p. 90.
104 Donellus, Commentarii, vol. 7, ch. 3, §9, p. 394: 'Haec cum praestiterit pro se emtor, sequitur pars altera huius actionis, quae attingit venditoris praestationem mutuam; et hanc obligationem habet ut venditor superioribus rebus receptis vel oblatis restituat emtori pretium rei venditae,... Quibus non praestitis sequitur condemnatio ea, quam Caius dicit in l. 45 D. de aedilit. edict. \[D. 21.1.45\], ut modo in duplum, modo in simplum condemnatur venditor'.
105 Donellus, Commentarii, vol. 7, ch. 3, §9, p. 394: 'In duplum tunc damnari venditorem intelligit, cum nihil istorum ab eo praestitum est; ubi scilicet necesse est eum et pecuniae ab emtore datae, et liberationis ei non praestitae nomine damnari, quae condemnatio aperte duplicem, id est duarum rerum condemnationem habet. In simplum autem tunc venditorem condemnari interpretatur, cum unum istorum praestitum est a venditore, non item alterum, ut proinde huius solius nomine illum condemnari oporteat. Itaque dicitur redhibitoria aliquando habere condemnationem in duplum, non ut significetur actionem esse in duplum, id est eam, quae cum simplum tantum absit actori, nihilominus poenae caussa persequatur aliquando duplum, ut sunt actiones, quae dictuntur in duplum, sed quia duarum rerum nomine condemnationem habeat, quarum utraque cum absit emtori, non possit dici continere poenae, sed tantum rei persecutionem'.
106 Klempt, Grundlagen, p. 22; Mornac passes over the seemingly penal character of the aedilician remedy for returning the thing. Mornac, Observationes, vol. 1, to D. 21.1, p. 535.
107 In the broad sense, locatio conductio covers rent, the agreement to perform a specific service or work, and the employment contract.
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