Page 236 - Latent Defect or Excessive Price?Exploring Early Modern Legal Approach to Remedying Defects in Goods Exchanged for Money - Bruijn

EARLY MODERN DUTCH LAW
To Grotius' remark that some obligations have a shorter limitation period, Schorer (1717- 1800)107 adds:
'Moreover, obligations because of fraud... died within one year. See the Placcaet108 of the States of Holland of 4 September 1603, Groenewegen van der Made, Tractatus, to C. 4.61.2, p. 157. The same is applied to other penalties, Groenewegen van der Made, Tractatus, to C. 9.22.12, p. 308'.109
Thus, local Dutch law reduced the duration of remedies lying for fraud to one year. The remedy on the sales contract for fraud being one of those, we can now surmise why Grotius subjected it to the short limitation period. Van der Linden and other interpreters of Grotius who in the years 1776-1778 published a piece of work which was instrumental to clarifying obscure passages in Grotius' Inleiding, adduce further evidence that some obligations came to an end after one year.110 To conclude, Dutch statutory law exceptionally reduced the limitation period of remedies based on an obligation resulting from fraud or debts to one year.
Nevertheless, the fact that 14th and 15th century Dutch statutes curbed the limitation periods of remedies for defect in sold goods did not withhold Van Leeuwen from maintaining the periods of the aedilician edict. Though he copies large parts of Grotius' Inleidinge in his own treatise on Roman-Dutch law, with regard to the limitation Van Leeuwen sticks to the views once formulated by Doneau and Vinnius.111 Van Leeuwen likewise mentions the aedilician periods of limitation under the heading of the sales contract. From this we can infer that the only limitation periods he thinks applicable to remedies for latent defects are the aedilician which were subsumed under the general action on the sales contract.
Among other Roman-Dutch scholars the views taken vary in accordance with those already mentioned. Though Voet does not discuss the civil and aedilician remedies together, which makes it difficult to gauge his view on the difference between the two sets, he does, however, go more deeply into Groenewegen van der Made's observation that French custom curbs the remedy for returning the thing within a time-frame of only 9 days.
gequeten, sulcs dat daer uit geen eisch en kan ontstaen,... \[3\] Deze verjaringhe by ons gheschied in 't ghemeen met het verloop van een derdendeel van honderd jaren:... \[6\] Doch eenige schulden verjaren in minder tijd... '.
107 Not much is known about this author. For some biographical data see Van Vliet, 'Impotentie en frigiditeit', p. 95.
108 Provincial statute.
109 Schorer&Groenewegen van der Made (comms.), Inleydinge, 3.46.8, note 13, p. 748: 'daer-en-boven
verbintenissen, van fraudatie... werden binnen een jaer verjaert. Placcaet van de Staten van Holland van den 4. septemb. 1603. Groeneweg. in l. 2. C. De voctogal \[sic\]. Het welk ook plaets heeft ten insigte van andere boeten. Groenew. in l. 12. C. ad l, Corn. de fals.'.
110 Van der Linden e.a, Rechtsgeleerde observatien, vol. 2, to Inleidinge, 3.46.2, p. 217. The authors refer to local statutes of the towns of Gorinchem (dating from 1382 and 1412), Oudewater (1399) and Heusden (1395); for the statutes of Oudewater see Kinschot, Beschryving der stad Oudewater, c. 67, p. 540, and c. 42, p. 567.
111 Van Leeuwen, Het Rooms-Hollands regt, 4.18.5, p. 375. It appears something has gone wrong with the references in this edition. None of the allegated texts are pertinent.
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