13.05.2020

Contractual Penalties

With this project, conducted by ECTIL in cooperation with ETL and the Association of Metaltechnology Austria, Ernst Karner (ETL, ECTIL and Vienna University) and Alexander Longin (ETL) examine selected problems raised by contractual penalties. Despite their immense relevance in practice, such penalties have received little attention in the Austrian literature. The now published study starts with a comparative overview of the relevant Austrian, German and Swiss provisions and case law. Special attention is paid to the possibility of a retrospective ‘reduction’ (Herabsetzung) of contractual penalties, as provided for by statute in all of the jurisdictions examined. Following an overview of further legal limits on contractual penalties (especially breach of good morals), the study analyses the purposes of contractual penalties and examines whether in Austria – as in Germany and Switzerland – a separate institute of liquidated damages can be recognised alongside contractual penalties. The latter question has yet received no attention in Austria. Lastly, the practically very significant issue of contractual penalties being passed along contractual chains is examined.

(For more information, please see the project page.)

Vertragsstrafe und Schadenspauschalierung
by Ernst Karner and Alexander Longin
Jan Sramek Verlag, Wien
Softcover. ISBN 978-3-7097-0234-5
2020, 240 pp

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