Integrationsklausuler och avtalstolkning i svensk rätt - Särskilt om företagsförvärv
(2023) JURM02 20231Department of Law
Faculty of Law
- Abstract
- Business in Sweden is becoming increasingly internationalized. As a result of this development entire agreement clauses are commonly used in contracts between traders. Entire agreement clauses have their origins in Anglo-American law. The purpose of these clauses is to limit the subject of the contract to the wording of the contract and prevent prior statements from being taken into account when setting the content of the contract. It is unclear how the clauses affect interpretation and supplementation of contracts in Swedish law.
This thesis discusses that an entire agreement clause is a part of the contract and that the clause as such also needs to be interpreted. Regular principles for interpreting the clause shall be used and all... (More) - Business in Sweden is becoming increasingly internationalized. As a result of this development entire agreement clauses are commonly used in contracts between traders. Entire agreement clauses have their origins in Anglo-American law. The purpose of these clauses is to limit the subject of the contract to the wording of the contract and prevent prior statements from being taken into account when setting the content of the contract. It is unclear how the clauses affect interpretation and supplementation of contracts in Swedish law.
This thesis discusses that an entire agreement clause is a part of the contract and that the clause as such also needs to be interpreted. Regular principles for interpreting the clause shall be used and all relevant cir-cumstances shall be considered. Requirements should be higher for a party who wants to enforce a right or obligation that has not been stated in the written contract when the parties have intended that the clause shall be used for contract interpretation. However, a conclusion in this thesis is that the effect of the entire agreement clause is likely to be affected by other circumstances. This thesis applies the circumstances in company acquisit-ions and concludes that reasons to apply the clauses exist under those con-ditions.
This thesis also concludes that an entire agreement clause allows for inter-pretation of the contract. Circumstances after conclusion of the contract can also be taken into account. Regarding whether optional law can be ap-plied to supplement a contract with an entire agreement clause is dependent on how the parties intended the clause to be interpreted. Whether it is ap-propriate or possible to stop optional law from supplementing the contract is questioned. This thesis concludes that optional law probably still can be used to complement the contract. Under certain circumstances 36 § AvtL can be applied to adjust or disregard an entire agreement clause.
Overall conclusion is that the current legal position is unclear. This thesis proposes that a desirable development of the legal position would be to adjust current legislation to match how entire agreement clauses are regula-ted in Article 2:105 PECL and Article 4:101 DCFR. The articles state that an individually negotiated entire agreement clause stops prior statements from being part of the contract. However, such statements can be used to interpret the contract. (Less) - Abstract (Swedish)
- Affärslivet i Sverige blir alltmer internationaliserat. Utvecklingen har bland annat medfört att integrationsklausuler är vanligt förekommande i avtal mellan näringsidkare. Integrationsklausuler har sitt ursprung i den anglo-amerikanska rätten. Klausulernas syfte är att begränsa avtalsinnehållet till det som framgår av avtalets ordalydelse samt hindra att utfästelser från tiden innan avtalets ingående beaktas vid fastställande av avtalsinnehåll. Hur klausulerna påverkar tolkning och utfyllnad av avtal i svensk rätt är oklart.
I uppsatsen diskuteras att en integrationsklausul är avtalsinnehåll och att klausulen behöver tolkas. Tolkningen bör ske med utgångspunkt i sedvan-liga principer för avtalstolkning och samtliga relevanta... (More) - Affärslivet i Sverige blir alltmer internationaliserat. Utvecklingen har bland annat medfört att integrationsklausuler är vanligt förekommande i avtal mellan näringsidkare. Integrationsklausuler har sitt ursprung i den anglo-amerikanska rätten. Klausulernas syfte är att begränsa avtalsinnehållet till det som framgår av avtalets ordalydelse samt hindra att utfästelser från tiden innan avtalets ingående beaktas vid fastställande av avtalsinnehåll. Hur klausulerna påverkar tolkning och utfyllnad av avtal i svensk rätt är oklart.
I uppsatsen diskuteras att en integrationsklausul är avtalsinnehåll och att klausulen behöver tolkas. Tolkningen bör ske med utgångspunkt i sedvan-liga principer för avtalstolkning och samtliga relevanta tolkningsdata ska beaktas. Om parternas avsikt varit att klausulen ska tillämpas bör högre krav ställas på den part som vill göra en rättighet eller skyldighet som inte framgår av det skrifta avtalet gällande. I uppsatsen konstateras att vilken effekt en integrationsklausul får sannolikt påverkas av övriga omständig-heter. Som exempel belyses de omständigheter som är aktuella vid ett före-tagsförvärv. Slutsatsen är att det finns särskilda skäl att tillämpa klausulerna vid företagsförvärv.
Uppsatsen kommer fram till att en integrationsklausul inte hindrar att avtal tolkas eller att sådant som inträffat efter avtalets ingående beaktas vid fast-ställande av avtalsinnehåll. Huruvida en integrationsklausul hindrar att dis-positiv rätt tillämpas för att fylla ut avtalet bedöms bli beroende av hur parterna avsett att klausulen ska tolkas. Om det är lämpligt, eller överhu-vudtaget praktiskt möjligt, att avtala bort dispositiva rätt problematiseras. Slutsatsen är att dispositiva rätt sannolikt kan användas för att fylla ut ett avtal, även när det strider mot parternas vilja. Vidare konstateras en integ-rationsklausul kan jämkas eller lämnas utan avseende med 36 § AvtL under vissa omständigheter.
Sammanfattningsvis konstateras att det nuvarande rättsläget är oklart. Upp-satsen föreslår att rättsläget utvecklas till att stämma överens med hur in-tegrationsklausuler regleras i PECL art. 2:105 och DCFR art. 4:101. Artik-larna anger att utfästelser från tiden innan avtalets ingående inte är avtals-innehåll om de inte också angetts i det skriftliga avtalet när integrations-klausulen varit föremål för individuell förhandling. Integrationsklausulen hindrar dock inte att utfästelser från tiden innan avtalets ingående används för att tolka avtalet. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9116163
- author
- Strandner, Anna LU
- supervisor
- organization
- alternative title
- Entire agreement clauses and interpretation in Swedish law - Particularly regarding company acquisitions
- course
- JURM02 20231
- year
- 2023
- type
- H3 - Professional qualifications (4 Years - )
- subject
- keywords
- avtalsrätt, civilrätt
- language
- Swedish
- id
- 9116163
- date added to LUP
- 2023-06-19 10:57:25
- date last changed
- 2023-06-19 10:57:25
@misc{9116163,
abstract = {{Business in Sweden is becoming increasingly internationalized. As a result of this development entire agreement clauses are commonly used in contracts between traders. Entire agreement clauses have their origins in Anglo-American law. The purpose of these clauses is to limit the subject of the contract to the wording of the contract and prevent prior statements from being taken into account when setting the content of the contract. It is unclear how the clauses affect interpretation and supplementation of contracts in Swedish law.
This thesis discusses that an entire agreement clause is a part of the contract and that the clause as such also needs to be interpreted. Regular principles for interpreting the clause shall be used and all relevant cir-cumstances shall be considered. Requirements should be higher for a party who wants to enforce a right or obligation that has not been stated in the written contract when the parties have intended that the clause shall be used for contract interpretation. However, a conclusion in this thesis is that the effect of the entire agreement clause is likely to be affected by other circumstances. This thesis applies the circumstances in company acquisit-ions and concludes that reasons to apply the clauses exist under those con-ditions.
This thesis also concludes that an entire agreement clause allows for inter-pretation of the contract. Circumstances after conclusion of the contract can also be taken into account. Regarding whether optional law can be ap-plied to supplement a contract with an entire agreement clause is dependent on how the parties intended the clause to be interpreted. Whether it is ap-propriate or possible to stop optional law from supplementing the contract is questioned. This thesis concludes that optional law probably still can be used to complement the contract. Under certain circumstances 36 § AvtL can be applied to adjust or disregard an entire agreement clause.
Overall conclusion is that the current legal position is unclear. This thesis proposes that a desirable development of the legal position would be to adjust current legislation to match how entire agreement clauses are regula-ted in Article 2:105 PECL and Article 4:101 DCFR. The articles state that an individually negotiated entire agreement clause stops prior statements from being part of the contract. However, such statements can be used to interpret the contract.}},
author = {{Strandner, Anna}},
language = {{swe}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Integrationsklausuler och avtalstolkning i svensk rätt - Särskilt om företagsförvärv}},
year = {{2023}},
}