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LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Ska vi öppna Pandoras ask? En studie om avtalslagens behov av reformering

Wall, Minna LU (2022) JURM02 20222
Department of Law
Faculty of Law
Abstract (Swedish)
Med utgångspunkt i avtalslagen syftar denna uppsats till att utreda och analysera argumenten för och emot behovet av lagreglering inom avtalsrätten och därmed få en ökad förståelse för lagstiftningens och prejudikatets betydelse. Uppsatsens frågeställning är: Utifrån vilka aspekter och argument kan det hävdas att avtalslagen behöver reformeras alternativt bevaras som den är?
Metoden för uppsatsen kan sägas vara en strukturerad och vetenskaplig litte-raturstudie av den juridiska forskningen och annat skrivet material som lag-text, förarbeten och i viss mån även prejudikat. Uppsatsen utgår från ett kritiskt perspektiv, hur rätten bör vara, vilket analyseras i relation till rättsläget.
Resultaten visar att det finns en stark uppfattning... (More)
Med utgångspunkt i avtalslagen syftar denna uppsats till att utreda och analysera argumenten för och emot behovet av lagreglering inom avtalsrätten och därmed få en ökad förståelse för lagstiftningens och prejudikatets betydelse. Uppsatsens frågeställning är: Utifrån vilka aspekter och argument kan det hävdas att avtalslagen behöver reformeras alternativt bevaras som den är?
Metoden för uppsatsen kan sägas vara en strukturerad och vetenskaplig litte-raturstudie av den juridiska forskningen och annat skrivet material som lag-text, förarbeten och i viss mån även prejudikat. Uppsatsen utgår från ett kritiskt perspektiv, hur rätten bör vara, vilket analyseras i relation till rättsläget.
Resultaten visar att det finns en stark uppfattning såväl hos lagstiftarna som hos de som praktiserar och studerar avtalsrätten att det väsentliga är att den avtalsrättsliga lagstiftningen inte utgör något hinder för rättsutvecklingen. Ur denna aspekt anses rättsregler som är mer flexibla och därmed kan svara på en stor variation av avtalssituationer och förändringar i samhället vara att föredra. Det är av denna anledning som mindre lagstiftning till förmån för den prejudi-katskapade rätten föredras, just därför att den är mer flexibel. Det finns en stark tradition av att vara restriktiv med lagstiftning inom avtalsrätten som grundar sig i en uppfattning att lagstiftningen ses som en fara för stagnation där det faktum att avtalslagen var mager redan vid dess tillkomst och att den har blivit allt magrare relativt sett, därför inte utgör något problem.
Att den prejudikatskapade rätten är flexibel innebär samtidigt att den är mer rättsosäker eftersom medborgarna inte kan förlita sig på att dessa rättsregler efterlevs i samma utsträckning som lagstiftningen. De som vill se en föränd-ring av avtalslagen anser därför att det leder till en bättre lösning på sikt om avtalsrätten lagstiftas i större utsträckning. I stället för att påpeka att lag som stiftas idag håller låg kvalité betonas ur denna aspekt i stället de möjligheter som finns vid en lagstiftningsprocess. Ytterligare en aspekt för att förändra avtalslagen är att det i praktiken inte fungerar som det i teorin är tänkt att fun-gera. Det handlar om att grundläggande värden förbises. Enligt regeringsfor-men anses det särskilt viktigt att avtalsrättsliga regler stiftas av det statsorgan som bäst representerar folket men i praktiken överlåtes denna normgivnings-makt i stor utsträckning åt domstolarna.
Det starkaste argumentet enligt min mening för att lagreglera avtalsrätten i större utsträckning är att det skulle öka rättssäkerheten och jag menar att det oavsett ståndpunkt i polemiken finns ett behov av att ta ett helhetsgrepp om den avtalsrättsliga lagregleringen. (Less)
Abstract
Based on the Swedish Contract Law (avtalslagen) this essay aims to investi-gate and analyze the arguments pro and contra the need for legal regulation within contract law and thereby gain an increased understanding of the im-portance of legislation and precedent. The question of the thesis is: Based on which aspects and arguments can it be argued that the contract law needs to be reformed or preserved as it is?
The method for the essay is a structured and scientific literature study of the legal research and other written material such as law legislation, legislative history and to some extent also precedents. The essay has a critical perspective, how the law ought to be, which is analyzed in relation to the legal position.
The results... (More)
Based on the Swedish Contract Law (avtalslagen) this essay aims to investi-gate and analyze the arguments pro and contra the need for legal regulation within contract law and thereby gain an increased understanding of the im-portance of legislation and precedent. The question of the thesis is: Based on which aspects and arguments can it be argued that the contract law needs to be reformed or preserved as it is?
The method for the essay is a structured and scientific literature study of the legal research and other written material such as law legislation, legislative history and to some extent also precedents. The essay has a critical perspective, how the law ought to be, which is analyzed in relation to the legal position.
The results show that there is a strong opinion both among the legislators and among those who practice and study contract law that the most important as-pect is that the contract law legislation does not constitute an obstacle to legal development. From this aspect, legal rules that are more flexible and which can respond to a large variety of contractual situations and changes in society are considered preferable. It is for this reason that less legislation in favor of the precedents is preferred, precisely because they are more flexible. There is a strong tradition of being restrictive with legislation in contract law which is based on a view that legislation is seen as a danger of stagnation where the fact that legislation was already meager at its inception and that it has become increasingly meager in relative terms, is not seen as any problem.
The fact that the precedents are flexible means simultaneously that they are less legally secure because citizens cannot rely on precedents being followed to the same extent as legislation. Those who want to see a change in the con-tract law therefore believe that it leads to a better solution in the long run if contract law is legislated to a greater extent. Instead of pointing out that laws enacted today are of low quality, this aspect emphasizes instead the possibili-ties that exist in a legislative process. Another aspect for changing the contract law is that in practice it does not work as it is supposed to, and the fundamen-tal values are being overlooked. According to the Swedish Governmental Law (regeringsformen), it is considered particularly important that contract law rules are established by the state body that best represents the people, but in practice this rule-making power is left to a large extent to the courts.
In my opinion, the strongest argument for legal regulation of the Swedish Contract Law (avtalslagen) to a greater extent is that it would increase legal certainty, and I believe that regardless of one's position in the polemic, there is a need to take a comprehensive approach to the legal regulation of contract law. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Wall, Minna LU
supervisor
organization
alternative title
Should We Open Pandora's Box? A study about the Swedish Contract Law (avtalslagen) need for reform
course
JURM02 20222
year
type
H3 - Professional qualifications (4 Years - )
subject
keywords
Avtalsrätt, Förmögenhetsrätt, Civilrätt, Prejudikat, Lagstiftning, Rättssäkerhet, Förutsägbarhet, Avtalslagen, Allmän avtalsrätt
language
Swedish
id
9109852
date added to LUP
2023-04-10 18:51:44
date last changed
2023-04-10 18:51:44
@misc{9109852,
  abstract     = {{Based on the Swedish Contract Law (avtalslagen) this essay aims to investi-gate and analyze the arguments pro and contra the need for legal regulation within contract law and thereby gain an increased understanding of the im-portance of legislation and precedent. The question of the thesis is: Based on which aspects and arguments can it be argued that the contract law needs to be reformed or preserved as it is?
The method for the essay is a structured and scientific literature study of the legal research and other written material such as law legislation, legislative history and to some extent also precedents. The essay has a critical perspective, how the law ought to be, which is analyzed in relation to the legal position.
The results show that there is a strong opinion both among the legislators and among those who practice and study contract law that the most important as-pect is that the contract law legislation does not constitute an obstacle to legal development. From this aspect, legal rules that are more flexible and which can respond to a large variety of contractual situations and changes in society are considered preferable. It is for this reason that less legislation in favor of the precedents is preferred, precisely because they are more flexible. There is a strong tradition of being restrictive with legislation in contract law which is based on a view that legislation is seen as a danger of stagnation where the fact that legislation was already meager at its inception and that it has become increasingly meager in relative terms, is not seen as any problem.
The fact that the precedents are flexible means simultaneously that they are less legally secure because citizens cannot rely on precedents being followed to the same extent as legislation. Those who want to see a change in the con-tract law therefore believe that it leads to a better solution in the long run if contract law is legislated to a greater extent. Instead of pointing out that laws enacted today are of low quality, this aspect emphasizes instead the possibili-ties that exist in a legislative process. Another aspect for changing the contract law is that in practice it does not work as it is supposed to, and the fundamen-tal values are being overlooked. According to the Swedish Governmental Law (regeringsformen), it is considered particularly important that contract law rules are established by the state body that best represents the people, but in practice this rule-making power is left to a large extent to the courts.
In my opinion, the strongest argument for legal regulation of the Swedish Contract Law (avtalslagen) to a greater extent is that it would increase legal certainty, and I believe that regardless of one's position in the polemic, there is a need to take a comprehensive approach to the legal regulation of contract law.}},
  author       = {{Wall, Minna}},
  language     = {{swe}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Ska vi öppna Pandoras ask? En studie om avtalslagens behov av reformering}},
  year         = {{2022}},
}