نوع مقاله : مقاله پژوهشی
نویسندگان
1 دانشیار گروه حقوق خصوصی و اسلامی، دانشکدۀ حقوق و علوم سیاسی دانشگاه تهران، ایران
2 دانشجوی دکتری حقوق خصوصی، دانشکدۀ حقوق و علوم سیاسی دانشگاه تهران، ایران
چکیده
براساس قواعد عمومی قراردادها ازجمله اصل لزوم و ادلۀ وفای‌به‌عهد، متعهد وظیفه دارد تعهدات و شروط قراردادی را بهطور کامل و مطابق توافق اجرا کند. عدم ایفای هریک از شروط قرارداد براساس قاعدۀ عام این امکان را برای متعهدله فراهم می‌کند که از ضمانت اجراهای مربوط به نقض تعهد استفاده کند. بااین‌حال، در نظام‌های حقوقی، هرگاه متعهد با حسن‌نیت بخش اساسی و عمدۀ قرارداد را که تأمین‌کنندۀ منافع اصلی متعهدله از انعقاد عقد بوده اجرا کند، متعهدله نمی‌تواند در راستای تأمین منافع خود از اجرای کامل قرارداد به‌صورت غیرمتناسب به ضمانت اجراهای نقض تعهد استناد کند؛ چراکه متعهد نسبت به بخشی از قرارداد که بهطور اساسی ایفا شده در مقام وفای‌به‌عهد قرار دارد. درمورد بخش‌های فرعی که اجرا نشده یا ناقص باقی مانده‌اند، نیز امکان صدور حکم برای پرداخت خسارت یا کاهش وجه قرارداد وجود دارد. این پژوهش به شیوۀ توصیفی-تحلیلی و با بهره‌گیری از آموزه‌های حقوق تطبیقی به تحلیل این حکم و امکان‌سنجی پذیرش آن در نظام حقوقی ایران پرداخته و نتیجۀ حاصل این است که می‌توان براساس اصل حسن‌نیت و تحلیل قصد طرفین قائل به پذیرش چنین رویکردی در حقوق ایران شد.
کلیدواژه‌ها
موضوعات
عنوان مقاله [English]
Possibility of Restricting the Legal Remedies for Breach of Contract in the Case of Substantial Performance
نویسندگان [English]
- Laya Joneydi 1
- Sajjad Ghasemi 2
1 \Associate Professor of Private Law, Faculty of Law and Political Sciences, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.
2 Ph.D. Student in Private Law, Faculty of Law and Political Sciences, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran
چکیده [English]
Based on the general principles of contract law, including the necessity of performing obligations and the binding force of contracts, the parties are assumed to fulfill their commitments only if they carry out all contractual obligations and conditions according to the agreed quantity and quality. Consequently, any defects, flaws, or incompleteness in the contract grant the other party the right to invoke the remedies for breach of obligation. Regarding the obligee's right to invoke breach remedies, there are two approaches within legal systems. In the classical approach, all contractual obligations and conditions have equal importance, allowing the obligee to use the failure to fulfill certain minor and ancillary conditions as grounds for terminating the contract or resorting to other remedies. In the newer approach, exemplified by the 2016 amendments to the French Civil Code, the obligee's right to rely on breach remedies is determined in proportion to the scope and impact of the breach. For instance, resorting to specific performance is conditioned on the good faith of the obligee and the avoidance of imposing excessive costs on the obligor, or contract termination is only available in the case of a serious and significant breach. This approach ties the obligee's right to invoke breach remedies to factors such as circumstances, the intent of the parties, the seriousness of the obligor's breach, and its effect on the obligee's expected interests.
One area where the moderation of the obligee’s right to use breach remedies has been considered is the assumption of substantial performance by the obligor. Substantial performance exists when the main part of the contract, which secures the obligee's primary benefits from the contract, is executed in good faith by the obligor, and the incompleteness of the contract is solely due to minor deficiencies in the work or minor non-conformities of the delivered goods or services with the terms of the contract, provided that two other important conditions are also met. First, the deficiencies or incompleteness of the contract do not affect the expected interests of the obligee, and second, these deficiencies can be reasonably compensated by paying an amount of money as damages or reducing the contract price. The theory of substantial performance, as proposed in common law, constitutes an exception to the principle of the necessity of fully executing contracts. This theory posits that with the substantial performance of the contract, that part of the contract is executed, and there remains the possibility of claiming damages or reducing the contract price for the deficiencies, thereby moderating the primary remedy for breach of obligation in common law, namely contract termination. This theory aligns with the moderation of breach remedies in civil law systems; in such systems, under relatively similar conditions to substantial performance, the possibility of resorting to the primary remedies for breach of obligations, which involve the obligation to specific performance of the contract and then the right to terminate, is limited.
In previous studies, efforts have been made to moderate the traditional structure of breach remedies in Iranian law, such as the possibility of preliminary termination or the prevention of abuse of rights; however, this research seeks to answer the question of whether, within the framework of Iranian law, it is also possible to acknowledge the moderation of the obligee's powers when resorting to breach remedies in cases of substantial performance of the contract or whether it must be believed that any level of breach of obligation completely gives freedom to the obligee to utilize remedies. In this regard, while discussing the theoretical foundations, practical aspects and the interests of the obligee should be considered alongside the imperative of not harming the obligor in good faith. To answer these questions, a preliminary discussion regarding the principle of the necessity of complete contract execution has been conducted, followed by exceptions and the moderation of the obligee's right in comparative law. Finally, the foundations of the two approaches—non-acceptance of the theory of essential performance and acceptance of it for final arbitration—have been analyzed.
This research, using a descriptive-analytical and comparative law method, analyzes the feasibility of its acceptance in the Iranian legal system. The conclusion is that, based on the principle of good faith and the analysis of the parties' intentions, such an approach can be accepted in Iranian law
کلیدواژه‌ها [English]
- Breach of obligation
- substantial performance
- termination
- price reduction
- performance of the contract
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