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Underförstådd garanti

Nilsson, Hannah LU (2012) JURM02 20121
Department of Law
Abstract (Swedish)
Vad som händer om någon inte presterar i enlighet med avtalet regleras ofta under rubriken garanti i avtalet. Beroende på hur garantibestämmelsen utformats och på vilket sätt avtalsobjektet avviker från vad som avtalats, kan konsekvensen bli allt från inget ansvar alls, till ett ansvar som innefattar även kompensation för indirekt förlust. Garantiers utformning och omfattning har därför stor ekonomisk betydelse.

Många gånger saknas dock en uttrycklig garanti, och frågan uppkommer därför om någon garanti ändå kan anses ha varit för handen, kan situationen tolkas som att en underförstådd garanti förelåg? Uppsatsen syftar till att just finna och analysera de kriterier för den underförstådda garantin som återfinns i domstolspraxis.
... (More)
Vad som händer om någon inte presterar i enlighet med avtalet regleras ofta under rubriken garanti i avtalet. Beroende på hur garantibestämmelsen utformats och på vilket sätt avtalsobjektet avviker från vad som avtalats, kan konsekvensen bli allt från inget ansvar alls, till ett ansvar som innefattar även kompensation för indirekt förlust. Garantiers utformning och omfattning har därför stor ekonomisk betydelse.

Många gånger saknas dock en uttrycklig garanti, och frågan uppkommer därför om någon garanti ändå kan anses ha varit för handen, kan situationen tolkas som att en underförstådd garanti förelåg? Uppsatsen syftar till att just finna och analysera de kriterier för den underförstådda garantin som återfinns i domstolspraxis.

Resultatet består av fyra kriterier, som varit frekvent återkommande i de mål som prövats. Det handlar om yrkesmässighet, att en köpare ska kunna förlita sig på rekommendationer från den som har specialkompetens på området eller som i övrigt bedriver yrkesmässig verksamhet. Närliggande den yrkesmässiges kunskapsmässiga överläge tycks också finnas ett skyddsperspektiv i förhållande till konsument eller annan med underlägsen ställning som inte har samma position vid avtalsförhandling eller möjlighet att kontrolla avtalsobjektet. Ett annat starkt argument som ofta förekommer är att säljaren har varit medveten om vad köparen ville ha men ändå inte har presterat i enlighet med dessa särskilt betonade krav, eller som annars har ingått avtalet trots att denne måste ha förstått att avtalsobjektet inte uppfyller köparens önskemål. Slutligen verkar det också kunna vägas in om uppgiften var av stor betydelse för avtalet, vilket främst syftar till avvikelser från fundamentala egenskaper som måste ha förutsatts av båda parterna.

Näringsidkares och konsumenters olika möjligheter att agera och kontrollera avtalsobjektet tycks vidare beaktas, så att högre krav ställs på en näringsidkare än på en konsument.

Ibland finns en skepsis från domstolens sida mot att tolka in en underförstådd garanti. I mål som avser smittat livsmedel och köp av levande djur har domstolen tydligt tagit avstånd från tanken på underförstådd garanti. De tycks även vara tveksamma avseende tidsgarantier. Varför konstruktionen ibland inte anses vara passande är något oklart, kanske talar etiska argument ibland emot intolkande av garantier.

Kritik har kommit från vissa håll i doktrinen, där det har framförts att bedömningen verkar godtycklig och är oförutsebar. Med tanke på vilka ekonomiska konsekvenser utfallet av bedömningen kan ha för individen i det enskilda fallet, är detta beklagligt. Ett klargörande från domstolens sida hade därför varit önskvärt, med information om när intolkandet av en underförstådd garanti är korrekt och vad det egentligen är som gör att en underförstådd garanti ibland enligt domstolen framstår som en fiktion.

Varför konstruktionen med underförstådda garantier ändå används beror troligen på att det är önskvärt att kunna komplettera lagstiftningen, för att kunna skydda den skadelidande parten i de fall det uppfattas som rättvisare att låta den andra parten stå för skadan. Är detta syftet med den underförstådda garantin, är det svårt att skapa någon förutsebarhet eftersom domstolens möjlighet att göra en bedömning utifrån vad de finner mest rättvist i det enskilda fallet då försvinner. Skulle problemet lösas genom lagstiftning beträffande underförstådda garantier skulle det nog vara nödvändigt med en generalklausul, då stor flexibilitet torde krävas för att uppnå rimliga resultat. Att ingen samlad lagstiftning finns vad gäller garantier hade dock försvårat detta. (Less)
Abstract
What happens if someone does not act according to the contract is often regulated under the title guarantee in (at least Swedish) contracts. Depending on how the guarantee paragraph is written and in what way the object of the contract differ from what is agreed, the consequence might be anything from no responsibility at all or a liability that includes compensation for all losses caused by the break of contract. Therefore, how the guarantee is expressed and its extension has a great economical impact.

Frequently, it appears that a clearly expressed guarantee is missing. It raises the question if a guarantee nevertheless can exist, if the situation can be interpreted as if there is an implied guarantee? This essay aims at finding and... (More)
What happens if someone does not act according to the contract is often regulated under the title guarantee in (at least Swedish) contracts. Depending on how the guarantee paragraph is written and in what way the object of the contract differ from what is agreed, the consequence might be anything from no responsibility at all or a liability that includes compensation for all losses caused by the break of contract. Therefore, how the guarantee is expressed and its extension has a great economical impact.

Frequently, it appears that a clearly expressed guarantee is missing. It raises the question if a guarantee nevertheless can exist, if the situation can be interpreted as if there is an implied guarantee? This essay aims at finding and analyzing what characterizes the implied guarantee that can be found in precedents from the courts.

The result consists of four common traits of character that has been frequently recurrent in the cases that has been in trial. The first concerns professionalism, that a buyer must be able to trust a recommendation from someone with special qualifications within the relevant field or who otherwise conducts professional activity. Closely connected to the advantage following the knowledge of a professional, there seems to be a tendency to protect consumers or others in an inferior position, as being the weaker part in negotiations before entering into contract and with limited possibilities to control the object of the contract. Another strong argument that frequently appears is that the seller was aware of what the buyer wanted, but still did not perform according to the emphasized requirements, or entered into the contract though must have suspected that the object of contract did not fulfill the requirements of the buyer. Finally, it seems that it also can be taken into consideration if the data was of great importance for the contract, referring primarily to differences compared to fundamental characteristics that must have been presumed by both parties.
It also seems to be of importance that a professional trader and a consumer don’t have the same potential when it comes to inspecting the object of contract, which makes the court demand more of the professional than the consumer.

Occasionally, the court is skeptic to constructing an implied guarantee. In cases concerning infected food and purchase of animals, the court has clearly positioned itself against implied guarantees. They also seem to doubt the construction concerning guarantees of time. Why this construction sometimes is not appropriate is fairly unclear, maybe an ethical perspective sometimes makes implied guarantees inappropriate.

Critical voices have been raised within the legal literature, saying that the assessment seems discretionary and unpredictable. Considering the economical consequences for the individual human being that might follow the result of the assessment, this is unfortunate. A clarification from the court is therefore desirable, including information regarding within what fields it is correct to find implied guarantees and exactly what it is that sometimes makes the court consider an implied guarantee being a fiction.

Why the construction with implied guarantees are still being used is probably because it’s a desirable complement to the legislation, making it possible to put the cost for the damage on the party according to what seems most fair. If this is the purpose with the implied guarantee, it’s hard to create predictability, since the opportunity for the court to make an assessment depending on what seems most fair in the case then will disappear. If the problem is to be solved through legislation, it would probably be necessary with a general clause, since great flexibility is needed to achieve reasonable results. The absence of a single law regulating guarantees would probably make this more difficult though. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Nilsson, Hannah LU
supervisor
organization
alternative title
Implied guarantee
course
JURM02 20121
year
type
H3 - Professional qualifications (4 Years - )
subject
keywords
Förmögenhetsrätt, Avtalsrätt, Civilrätt, Garanti, Fastighetsrätt, Produktansvar
language
Swedish
id
2797474
date added to LUP
2012-10-15 13:20:56
date last changed
2012-10-15 13:20:56
@misc{2797474,
  abstract     = {{What happens if someone does not act according to the contract is often regulated under the title guarantee in (at least Swedish) contracts. Depending on how the guarantee paragraph is written and in what way the object of the contract differ from what is agreed, the consequence might be anything from no responsibility at all or a liability that includes compensation for all losses caused by the break of contract. Therefore, how the guarantee is expressed and its extension has a great economical impact. 
 
Frequently, it appears that a clearly expressed guarantee is missing. It raises the question if a guarantee nevertheless can exist, if the situation can be interpreted as if there is an implied guarantee? This essay aims at finding and analyzing what characterizes the implied guarantee that can be found in precedents from the courts. 
 
The result consists of four common traits of character that has been frequently recurrent in the cases that has been in trial. The first concerns professionalism, that a buyer must be able to trust a recommendation from someone with special qualifications within the relevant field or who otherwise conducts professional activity. Closely connected to the advantage following the knowledge of a professional, there seems to be a tendency to protect consumers or others in an inferior position, as being the weaker part in negotiations before entering into contract and with limited possibilities to control the object of the contract. Another strong argument that frequently appears is that the seller was aware of what the buyer wanted, but still did not perform according to the emphasized requirements, or entered into the contract though must have suspected that the object of contract did not fulfill the requirements of the buyer. Finally, it seems that it also can be taken into consideration if the data was of great importance for the contract, referring primarily to differences compared to fundamental characteristics that must have been presumed by both parties.
It also seems to be of importance that a professional trader and a consumer don’t have the same potential when it comes to inspecting the object of contract, which makes the court demand more of the professional than the consumer.				

Occasionally, the court is skeptic to constructing an implied guarantee. In cases concerning infected food and purchase of animals, the court has clearly positioned itself against implied guarantees. They also seem to doubt the construction concerning guarantees of time. Why this construction sometimes is not appropriate is fairly unclear, maybe an ethical perspective sometimes makes implied guarantees inappropriate. 		

Critical voices have been raised within the legal literature, saying that the assessment seems discretionary and unpredictable. Considering the economical consequences for the individual human being that might follow the result of the assessment, this is unfortunate. A clarification from the court is therefore desirable, including information regarding within what fields it is correct to find implied guarantees and exactly what it is that sometimes makes the court consider an implied guarantee being a fiction.
	
Why the construction with implied guarantees are still being used is probably because it’s a desirable complement to the legislation, making it possible to put the cost for the damage on the party according to what seems most fair. If this is the purpose with the implied guarantee, it’s hard to create predictability, since the opportunity for the court to make an assessment depending on what seems most fair in the case then will disappear. If the problem is to be solved through legislation, it would probably be necessary with a general clause, since great flexibility is needed to achieve reasonable results. The absence of a single law regulating guarantees would probably make this more difficult though.}},
  author       = {{Nilsson, Hannah}},
  language     = {{swe}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Underförstådd garanti}},
  year         = {{2012}},
}