Processuella överenskommelser och avtalsviten – En analys av vilken rättsverkan ett avtalsvite kopplat till ett avstående från domstolsprövning kan tillerkännas
(2020) JURM02 20201Department of Law
Faculty of Law
- Abstract
- Every individual shall be entitled the right to have disputes regarding his civil rights and obligations brought before a court. Therefore, a statutory exemption is required for agreements waiving the right of access to a court. The requirement is expressed through the procedural nullity principle, i.e. procedural agreements are only acceptable if there is a statutory exemption thereof. However, a breach of an unlawful procedural agreement may still be a breach of contract. Subsequently, the question of potential remedies arises. If liquidated damages following a breach of a procedural agreement would be upheld in court, it could create a mediate procedural impediment through the deterrent effect of liquidated damages.
The thesis is... (More) - Every individual shall be entitled the right to have disputes regarding his civil rights and obligations brought before a court. Therefore, a statutory exemption is required for agreements waiving the right of access to a court. The requirement is expressed through the procedural nullity principle, i.e. procedural agreements are only acceptable if there is a statutory exemption thereof. However, a breach of an unlawful procedural agreement may still be a breach of contract. Subsequently, the question of potential remedies arises. If liquidated damages following a breach of a procedural agreement would be upheld in court, it could create a mediate procedural impediment through the deterrent effect of liquidated damages.
The thesis is initiated in chapter 2 where procedural agreements are categorised and two examples of such contractual conditions are presented. The chapter concludes that it may be very hard, if not impossible, to draw a strict line between a procedural and a civil contractual condition.
Chapter 3 focuses on liquidated damages and the possibilities of annulment. Liquidated damages are concluded to be ancillary obligations without a requirement of damage. The categorisation of liquidated damages as a “penalty” is not in itself a ground of annulment; nevertheless, it may be a circumstance of relevance within a test of reasonableness according to article 36 of the Swedish contract law.
Chapter 4 reviews the right of access to a court, with a particular focus on the procedural nullity principle. The issue of classification in chapter 2 is problematic with regard to the procedural nullity principle. If the principle is to be upheld adequately, every contractual condition with procedural effect must be annulled. However, it’s not a suitable solution with regard to the widespread freedom of contract parties are entitled to. Instead, an alternative solution is presented where the procedural nullity principle only affects the admissibility of a claim on formal grounds.
Finally, the thesis analyses the exemplified contractual conditions from chapter 2, with regard to the interest of procedural protection on one hand and the freedom of contract on the other hand. The thesis concludes that liquidated damages in relation to a waiving of the right of access to a court in entirety cannot be upheld. It would restrict the right of access to a court in an unlawful manner. However, regarding a less clear waiver, the result is not as obvious. An assessment must be made with regard to all circumstances in the individual case. (Less) - Abstract (Swedish)
- Varje enskild skall vara berättigad att få tvister om sina materiella rättigheter och skyldigheter prövade i domstol. Mot bakgrund därom kan enbart lagstadgade undantag medge parter att, med bindande verkan, avtala om rättegångshinder. Detta anses ge uttryck för den processuella ogiltighetsprincipen, med innebörden att processuella överenskommelser enbart är giltiga om det finns lagstöd. Att bryta mot en processuell överenskommelse kan dock utgöra ett avtalsbrott, vilket väcker frågeställningen om ett sådant avtalsbrott även kan medföra utdömandet av ett avtalsvite. Om ett avtalsvite till en processuell överenskommelse upprätthålls kan parter, via avtalsvitets avskräckande effekt, skapa ett indirekt rättegångshinder.
Uppsatsen tar... (More) - Varje enskild skall vara berättigad att få tvister om sina materiella rättigheter och skyldigheter prövade i domstol. Mot bakgrund därom kan enbart lagstadgade undantag medge parter att, med bindande verkan, avtala om rättegångshinder. Detta anses ge uttryck för den processuella ogiltighetsprincipen, med innebörden att processuella överenskommelser enbart är giltiga om det finns lagstöd. Att bryta mot en processuell överenskommelse kan dock utgöra ett avtalsbrott, vilket väcker frågeställningen om ett sådant avtalsbrott även kan medföra utdömandet av ett avtalsvite. Om ett avtalsvite till en processuell överenskommelse upprätthålls kan parter, via avtalsvitets avskräckande effekt, skapa ett indirekt rättegångshinder.
Uppsatsen tar avstamp i kapitel 2 där processuella överenskommelser utreds och två exempelvillkor introduceras. Det konstateras att det i väldigt många situationer är svårt, eller till och med omöjligt, att dra en skarp gränslinje mellan ett processuellt respektive ett civilrättsligt avtalsvillkor.
Kapitel 3 behandlar avtalsviten och möjligheter att ogiltigförklara dem. Det konstateras att avtalsvitet är en accessorisk förpliktelse som inte förutsätter någon skada. Rena straffviten anses inte föranleda ett ogiltigförklarande på egen grund, men det är en faktor som kan beaktas vid en skälighetsbedömning enligt 36 § avtalslagen.
I kapitel 4 utreds rätten till domstolsprövning, med ett särskilt fokus på principen om processuella avtals ogiltighet utan lagstöd. Här visar sig klassificeringssvårigheten från kapitel 2 vara problematisk. Om principen om processuella avtals ogiltighet skall upprätthållas på ett adekvat sätt torde samtliga avtal med processuella inslag behöva ogiltigförklaras. Det är dock ingen fördelaktig lösning mot bakgrund av parters vida möjlighet att avtala om sina materiella förehavanden. Istället presenteras en annan lösning där den processuella ogiltighetsprincipen enbart påverkar talerättsfrågan.
Slutligen återförs exempelvillkoren för att, mot bakgrund av såväl det processuella rättsskyddet som avtalsfriheten, bedöma deras och därtill kopplade avtalsvitens potentiella rättsverkan. Det konstateras att ett avtalsvite kopplat till ett helt avstående från domstolsprövning inte kan upprätthållas eftersom det hade inskränkt rätten till domstolsprövning i för stor utsträckning. För ett mindre tydligt avstående behöver det dock inte vara lika självklart. En bedömning måste göras efter omständigheterna i det enskilda fallet. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9010873
- author
- Olenius, Anton LU
- supervisor
- organization
- alternative title
- Procedural agreements and liquidated damages
- course
- JURM02 20201
- year
- 2020
- type
- H3 - Professional qualifications (4 Years - )
- subject
- keywords
- processrätt, processuella överenskommelser, avtalsviten
- language
- Swedish
- id
- 9010873
- date added to LUP
- 2020-06-15 09:23:01
- date last changed
- 2020-06-15 09:23:01
@misc{9010873,
abstract = {{Every individual shall be entitled the right to have disputes regarding his civil rights and obligations brought before a court. Therefore, a statutory exemption is required for agreements waiving the right of access to a court. The requirement is expressed through the procedural nullity principle, i.e. procedural agreements are only acceptable if there is a statutory exemption thereof. However, a breach of an unlawful procedural agreement may still be a breach of contract. Subsequently, the question of potential remedies arises. If liquidated damages following a breach of a procedural agreement would be upheld in court, it could create a mediate procedural impediment through the deterrent effect of liquidated damages.
The thesis is initiated in chapter 2 where procedural agreements are categorised and two examples of such contractual conditions are presented. The chapter concludes that it may be very hard, if not impossible, to draw a strict line between a procedural and a civil contractual condition.
Chapter 3 focuses on liquidated damages and the possibilities of annulment. Liquidated damages are concluded to be ancillary obligations without a requirement of damage. The categorisation of liquidated damages as a “penalty” is not in itself a ground of annulment; nevertheless, it may be a circumstance of relevance within a test of reasonableness according to article 36 of the Swedish contract law.
Chapter 4 reviews the right of access to a court, with a particular focus on the procedural nullity principle. The issue of classification in chapter 2 is problematic with regard to the procedural nullity principle. If the principle is to be upheld adequately, every contractual condition with procedural effect must be annulled. However, it’s not a suitable solution with regard to the widespread freedom of contract parties are entitled to. Instead, an alternative solution is presented where the procedural nullity principle only affects the admissibility of a claim on formal grounds.
Finally, the thesis analyses the exemplified contractual conditions from chapter 2, with regard to the interest of procedural protection on one hand and the freedom of contract on the other hand. The thesis concludes that liquidated damages in relation to a waiving of the right of access to a court in entirety cannot be upheld. It would restrict the right of access to a court in an unlawful manner. However, regarding a less clear waiver, the result is not as obvious. An assessment must be made with regard to all circumstances in the individual case.}},
author = {{Olenius, Anton}},
language = {{swe}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Processuella överenskommelser och avtalsviten – En analys av vilken rättsverkan ett avtalsvite kopplat till ett avstående från domstolsprövning kan tillerkännas}},
year = {{2020}},
}