Abstract
This document provides an in-depth analysis of the conditions of the error vice of consent in contract law, including the existence of the error, the object of the error, and the excusability of the error. It also discusses the social object of the moral person as a criterion of excusability and the conditions for assessing the errant, a moral person. The document is relevant to law students and professionals interested in contract law and the annulment of sales for vice of consent.
Extract
[...] This condition aims to sanction excessive carelessness of the co-contractants. The fault of the errant physical person is assessed in concreto, taking into account their capabilities, age, profession, etc. However, when the errant is a moral person, the question of assessing the fault was not determined. In the commented judgment, the 3rd civil chamber only uses the social object of the SCI to determine the fault of the errant. Thus, even though the SCI has as its object 'the acquisition, rental, construction, exploitation and management as well as the possible transfer of all real estate, goods and immovable rights', the Court considers that, given the civil nature of the company, it cannot be considered professional. [...]
[...] From then on, the fault of the errant in this case was excusable. Also, it is necessary to understand that in the context of a company with the object of buying and selling real estate, the fault of the errant would have been retained. On this point, the commented judgment brings an innovation in that it gives the criterion for determining the fault of the errant, a moral person. This solution differs from the doctrinal debate and previous jurisprudence. The other criteria for determining the fault of the errant moral person In doctrine, a debate was initiated. [...]
[...] The contours of the error of a legal entity are specified by a ruling made by the 3rd Civil Chamber of the Court of Cassation on May 2018. In this case, a building with an area of 13.49 square meters, which was previously rented to a third party, was transferred to a buyer who is a legal entity (the SCI). Shortly after the transfer, the buyer was informed by the municipal health and hygiene service that the main room of the apartment, with an area of less than 9 square meters, made it unsuitable for rental. [...]
[...] The essential qualities must thus enter the contractual field (Civ 23 November 1931). Although the ordinance of 1 October 2016 codified the case law, the disputed contract, formed in this case in 2010, was under the old law. To consider the error as determining the buyer's consent, the judges applied the aforementioned case law strictly. Thus, in their view, since the property was rented at the time of the transfer, it was necessarily intended for rental for the buyers. In addition, the rental of the property actually fell within the contractual field. [...]
[...] It thus confirms the appeal judgment in that it orders the annulment of the sale for error, vice of consent. The interest is therefore to consider the control of the error of a legal person as a contracting party in the context of the annulment of a sale for vice of consent. The Court of Cassation renders a decision that is at least didactic. It recalls, on the one hand, the scope of application of the error on the essential qualities of the contract It innovates, on the other hand, by giving the conditions for the excusable nature of the error of a legal person (II). [...]
