Specific Performance in German, French and Dutch Law in the Nineteenth Century Remedies in an Age of Fundamental Rights and Industrialisation By Janwillem Oosterhuis M A RTI N U S NIJHOFF PUBLISHERS LEIDEN. BOSTON 2011
Foreword Abbreviations xv xvii 1. Introduction 1 1.1. The Subject of this Study 1 1.2. Methodology 2 1.2.1. Central Questions 2 1.2.2. Comparative Legal History 3 1.2.2.a. Legal Obligations and Possible Performance 7 1.2.2.b. Definition of the Remedies Specific Performance, Damages and Rescission 9 1.2.2.C France, the German territories, the Netherlands and the Nineteenth Century 11 1.2.2.d. Civil Law versus Common Law 13 1.2.2.e. Understanding Specific Performance 15 1.2.2.f. Legal Sources 16 1.3. Structure 18 2. Specific Performance before the Nineteenth Century 21 2.1. Introduction 21 2.2. Roman Law 21 2.3. Glossators, Commentators and Canonists 27 2.3.1. Bulgarus, Martinus and Accursius 28 2.3.2. Bartolus and Baldus 30 2.3.3. Canon law 33 2.4. Customary Law, Early Modern Scholasticism and Legal Humanism 34 2.4.1. Dumoulin and Molina 35 2.4.2. Coras and Doneau 40 2.5. Roman-Dutch Law and Roman-Frisian Law 43 2.5.1. Grotius, Vinnius, Groenewegen and Huber 44
VIII 2.5.2. Bynkershoek and Civil Custody as Indirect Means of Enforcement 49 2.6. Early Modern Natural Law and the usus modernus pandectarum 52 2.6.1. Domat 53 2.6.1.a. General Conception of Obligations 55 2.6.1.b. Performance of Obligations to Act or Abstain 56 2.6.I.e. Obligations to Give and the Transfer of Ownership 57 2.6.2. Bourjon 62 2.6.2.a. Third Party Performance 63 2.6.2.b. Transfer of Ownership 65 2.6.3. Pothier 67 2.6.3.a. General Conception of Obligations 69 2.6.3.b. Specific Performance of Obligations to Act or Abstain 70 2.6.3.C. Specific Performance of Obligations to Give... 72 2.6.3.d. Third Party Performance 74 2.6.3.e. Transfer of Ownership by Presumed Conveyance 76 2.6.4. Thomasius, Boehmer and Hopfner 78 2.7. Specific Performance versus nemo praecise 84 3. Specific Performance as Primary Remedy 87 3.1. Introduction 87 3.2. German ius commune 88 3.2.1. Specific Performance as Primary Remedy 90 3.2.1.a. Betrothals 96 3.2.1.b. Contracts of Employment and other Performances of a Highly Personal Nature 99 3.2.1.C Construction Contracts 101 3.2.l.d. Trade Sales and Obligations to Hand over Goods 102 3.2.2. Direct and Indirect Enforcement 105 3.2.2.a. Indirect Enforcement of Betrothals 110 3.2.2.b. Direct Enforcement of Non-Competition Clauses 112 3.2.3. Specific Performance or Damages? 113 3.3. Prussia and the Allgemeines Landrecht (1794) 114
IX 3.3.1. Specific Performance as the Primary Remedy: Betrothals 115 3.3.2. Allgemeine Gerichtsordnung (1793) 118 3.3.2.a. Indirect Enforcement of Betrothals 122 3.3.2.b. Direct Enforcement of Delivery of Generic Goods 123 3.3.3. Specific Performance, Rescission or Damages? 124 3.4. France and the Code civil (1804) 125 3.4.1. Specific Performance as Primary Remedy in the Code civil 127 3.4.1.a. Performances of a Highly Personal Nature 129 3.4.l.b. Generic Acts or Abstentions 130 3.4.I.e. Obligations to Give 132 3.4.1.d. Transfer of Ownership of Immovable Property 134 3.4.1.e. Transfer of Ownership of Movable Property.. 139 3.4!.f. Code deprocedure civile (1807) 140 3.4.2. Specific Performance of Obligations to Act or Abstain 141 3.4.2.a. Cohabitation and other Performances of a Highly Personal Nature 146 3.4.2.b. Third Party Performance of Generic Acts or Abstentions 151 3.4.3. Specific Performance of Obligations to Give 154 3.4.3.a. Consensual Transfer of Ownership 157 3.4.3.b. Transfer of Ownership of Immovable Property 162 3.4.3.c. Transfer of Ownership of Specific Movable Property 168 3.4.3.d. Duties to Hand Over and Cumulative or Fixed Damages 171 3.4.3.e. Sales of Generic Goods: Third Party Performance or Damages? 174 3.5. The Rhine Province, Baden and the Code civil 178 3.5.1. Specific Performance as Primary Remedy 179 3.5.1.a. Construction Contracts and Betrothals 182 3.5.1.b. Sales of Generic Goods in the Rhine Province 187 3.5.2. No Enforcement of Obligations to Act or Abstain 188 3.6. The Netherlands, Roman-Dutch Law and the Code civil 192
X 3.6.1. Roman-Dutch Law and Early Modern Natural Law... 193 3.6.1.a. Specific Performance of all Obligations 193 3.6.1.b. Natural Law Drafts (1798-1804) 198 3.6.2. Wetboek Napoleon 201 3.6.2.a. Draft van der Linden (1807/1808) 202 3.6.2.b. Wetboek Napoleon ingerigt voor het Koningrijk Holland (1809-1811) 204 3.6.3. Burgerlijk Wetboek (1838) 208 3.6.3.a. Kempers Drafts: First (1816) and Second (1820) 209 3.6.3.b. Wetboek 1830 211 3.6.4. The Code civil in the Netherlands (1811-1838) 216 3.6.4.a. Specific Performance as Primary Remedy 216 3.6.4.b. Indirect Enforcement 219 3.7. Comparison 221 3.7.1. Specific Performance in German, French and Dutch Law 221 3.7.1.a. Execution of Specific Enforcement 223 3.7.1.b. Specific Performance in Legal Doctrine 224 3.7.2. Specific Performance in Legal Practice 228 3.7.2.a. Personal and Generic Acts 228 3.7.2.b. Unique and Generic Goods 231 3.7.2.C. Performance by Equivalence: Generic Acts and Goods 231 3.7.2.d. Reasons for Specific Performance 232 3.7.3. Specific Performance versus Damages 233 4. Damages as Rule 237 4.1. Introduction 237 4.2. German Confederation (1815-1866) 239 4.2.1. Gemeines Recht, Pandectism and Mercantile Law 240 4.2. l.a. Mora, Lack of Interest and Rescission 242 4.2. l.b. Dogmatics Behind a Specific Date of Delivery 245 4.2.I.e. Damages as Price Difference 252 4.2.1.A Acceptance of a 'Recent Practice' 256 4.2.2. The Rhine Province and Baden: Sales of Generic Goods 262 4.2.3. Prussia and the Allgemeines Landrecht 266
XI 4.2.3.a. Draft Handelsgesetzbuch fur die preufiischen Staaten (1856) 267 4.2.3.b. Rescission upon Default due to a Specific Date of Delivery 268 4.2.3.C. Damages Alongside Actual Performance 270 4.2.3.d. Contracts of Delivery 272 4.2.4. Allgemeines Deutsches Handelsgesetzbuch (1861) 274 4.2.4.a. Status quo versus 'the Needs of Commerce'... 275 4.2.4.b. A Codified Choice of Remedies 278 4.3. German Empire (1871-1918) 280 4.3.1. Civilprozefiordnung (1879) 280 4.3.1.a. Direct Enforcement of Deliveries of Generic Goods? 281 4.3.1.b. Delivery of Generic Goods: a dare or a/acere? 284 4.3.2. Fixgeschaft and the Specific Date of Delivery 285 4.3.2.a. Immediate Notification 287 4.3.2.b. Restrictive Interpretation of a Specific Date of Delivery 289 4.3.3. Damages as Default Remedy 291 4.3.3.a. Restrictive Interpretation of the Additional Period 292 4.3.3.b. Extended Choice of Remedies 296 4.3.3.C. Deckungskauf or Specific Performance by Equivalence 298 4.3.4. Impossibility of the Contractual Performance 303 4.3.5. Commercialisation of Private law in the Biirgerliches Gesetzbuch 306 4.4. France and Belgium 309 4.4.1. Trade Sales: Specific Performance by Equivalence 310 4.4.2. Damages as Default Remedy 314 4.4.2.a. Default due to a Separate Notice 316 4.4.2.b. Judicial Rescission and an Extended Choice of Remedies 317 4.4.3. Specific Date of Delivery 317 4.4.3.a. Commodities 318 4.4.3.b. Rescission ipsojure or Lack ofcausa 318 4.4.3.C. Price Difference 321 4.5. The Netherlands 323 4.5.1. Sales of Movable Property 325
XII 4.5.1.a. Indirect Enforcement of Delivery 326 4.5.l.b. Subsidiary Damages 329 4.5.2. Damages as Default Remedy 333 4.5.2.a. Rescission in Court 335 4.5.2.b. Default due to a Separate Notice 339 4.5.2.C. International and Domestic Trade Sales 343 4.5.2.d. Delivery Contracts and Penalty Clauses 347 4.5.2.e. Restrictive Interpretation of the Additional Period 349 4.5.3. Specific Date of Delivery 352 4.5.3.a. Immediate Default 355 4.5.3.b. Rescission ipsojure 357 4.5.3.C. Commodities 361 4.5.3.d. Price Difference 364 4.5.3.e. Damages as Primary Remedy 369 4.5.4. Impossibility of the Contractual Performance 375 4.6. Comparison 377 4.6.1. Specific performance 378 4.6.1.a. Unique and Generic Goods 378 4.6.1.b. Enforcement 379 4.6.2. Damages and Rescission 380 4.6.2.a. Mercantile Law 381 4.6.2.b. Generic Goods and Timely Delivery 383 4.6.2.C. Damages as Primary Remedy 386 4.6.3. Damages versus Specific Performance by Equivalence 391 4.6.3.a. Subsidiary Damages 391 4.6.3.b. Third Party Performance, Covering Purchases and Penalty Clauses 392 4.6.4. Disintegration of the Law of Obligations 393 5. Specific Performance as an Exceptional Remedy 395 5.1. Introduction 395 5.2. France and Belgium 395 5.2.1. Specific Performance of Obligations or Duties to Act or Abstain 396 5.2.l.a. Acting, Turning Over Children and Abstaining from Competition 398 5.2.l.b. Demolombe on Cumulative Amounts as an Indirect Means of Enforcement 405
XIII 5.2.I.e. Cumulative Damages in French and Belgian Legal Practice 408 5.2.1.d. Astreinte 413 5.2.I.e. Generic Acts or Abstentions and Third Party Enforcement 419 5.2.2. Specific Performance of Obligations to Give 427 5.2.2.a. Consensual Transfer of Ownership 430 5.2.2.b. Transfer of Ownership of Immovable Property 435 5.2.2.C. Transfer of Ownership of Specific Movable Property 442 5.2.2.d. Duties to Hand Over and Cumulative or Fixed Damages 446 5.3. The Netherlands 447 5.3.1. Performance of Obligations or Duties to Act or Abstain 448 5.3.l.a. Civil Imprisonment 453 5.3.l.b. Construction Contracts 456 5.3.I.e. Leases 461 5.3.l.d. Servitudes 466 5.3.1.e. Contractual Penalties to secure Performance of Actors and Non-Competition Clauses 472 5.3. l.f. Cohabitation and Other Performances of a Highly Personal Nature 475 5.3.1.g. Choice of Remedies: Actual Performance or Rescission with Damages 481 5.3.l.h. Cumulative Damages for Obligations and Duties to Act or Hand Over 490 5.3.2. Specific Performance of Obligations to Deliver Immovable Property 501 5.3.2.a. Delivery: Formal and Informal 502 5.3.2.b. No Direct Enforcement of the Conveyance Without a Deed of Transfer 505 5.3.2.C. Existing Titles and Reinstatement of the Registers to their Previous Positions 510 5.3.2.d. Direct Enforcement of Informal Delivery or Duty to Hand Over 513 5.3.2.e. Drawing up a Deed as an Obligation to Do... 517 5.3.2.f. Specific Performance as an Exceptional Remedy 522
XIV 5.3.2.g. Obligations to Do Something, Remittance of Verdicts and Damages 525 5.3.2.h. Enforcement of Conveyance Through Cumulative Damages 531 5.4. German Empire 539 5.4.1. Civilprozefiordnung (1879) 539 5.4.1.a. Actual Enforcement as Purpose 540 5.4.1.b. Betrothals Unenforceable 545 5.4.I.e. Diversity at a Substantive Level and Damages Alongside Actual Performance 546 5.4.2. Specific Performance in the Rhine Province and Baden 548 5.4.2.a. Perpetual Clause 550 5.4.2.b. Construction Contracts 553 5.4.2.C. No Direct or Indirect Coercion of Obligations to Act 555 5.4.3. Strict Enforcement in Legal Practice 558 5.4.3.a. Monetary Penalties and Imprisonment; Cumulation and Discretion 559 5.4.3.b. Acts Only Dependent on a Debtors Will 561 5.4.3.C. Abgabe einer Willenserkldrung 563 5.4.3.d. Turning Over of Children and Handing Over of Goods 564 5.4.4. Specific Performance under the Burgerliches Gesetzbuch 566 5.5. Comparison 571 5.5.1. Specific Performance 571 5.5.l.a. Unique Goods and Personal Acts 574 5.5.1.b. Contractual Penalties 577 5.5.I.e. Specific Performance by Equivalence: Generic Acts and Specified Goods 577 5.5.2. Specific Performance as an Exceptional Remedy 578 6. Summary and Conclusions 581 Bibliography 591 Index of Names 611 Index of Sources 615 Index of Cases 621