“Clause pénale” v. liquidated damages – any similarities?
- By Joanne Clarke,
for Salans
Delays are of course a common problem in construction projects. French law (like English law) allows for a pre-estimation of damages for delay. However, the common law and the civil law approaches to such pre-estimation appear to differ, as pan-European construction professionals may have encountered.
English lawyers turn towards liquidated damages for delay. These involve the pre-determination, at the time the contract is entered into, of the loss which a delay would cause. However, these ascertained damages must be based on a genuine estimate of the likely loss and not amount to a penalty.
French lawyers rely upon “clauses pénales”, which also involve a pre-determined [...]
A Growing Trend in French Construction Law? The Recognition of Mandatory Rules by the Court of Cassation
- By Joanne Clarke,
for Salans
In a judgment dated February 25, 2009 (Cour de cassation, civ. 3, 25 February 2009, No. P07-20.096), the Court of cassation, the highest court in the French judiciary, confirmed its previous decisions (Cour de cassation, chambre mixte, 30 November 2007, No. 06-14.006; Cour de cassation, 3e civ., 30 January 2008, No. 06-14.641) according to which certain provisions of the French Law on Subcontracting dated December 31, 1975 are mandatory, and as such are to be applied even when French law is not the governing law chosen by the parties to the contract.
For several years, there has been a debate among scholars on the classification of certain provisions of the 1975 Law as mandatory w [...]
