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Comment by victorbjorklund

11 hours ago

No, I have a Swedish law degree and you have totally misunderstood article 30 if you claim it is about unjust contracts. You are mixing it up with art 36.

You are referring to a 60 year article and the sentence you highlighted is NOT his opinion on the old contract law (the contract law currently in effect is from 2020) but rather he is explaining the opinion on German law from another person.

Of course you as an American sees no difference between contract law in continental European law and common law.

This is what the Swedish Supreme Court said recently on the paragraph.

Enligt 30 § avtalslagen kan en rättshandling inte göras gällande om den, gentemot vilken en rättshandling företagits, framkallat rättshandlingen genom svikligt förledande eller bort inse att den som företog rättshandlingen blivit svikligen förledd av någon annan. Det finns en presumtion för att det svikliga förfarandet har framkallat rättshandlingen, om omständigheter som svikligen uppgetts eller förtigits kan antas vara av betydelse för rättshandlingen.

bad Google Translate:

According to Section 30 of the Contracts Act, a legal act cannot be enforced if the party against whom the legal act was performed caused the legal act by fraudulent misrepresentation or Should have realized that the party performing the legal act had been fraudulently misled by someone else. There is a presumption that the fraudulent misrepresentation has caused the legal act if circumstances that were fraudulently stated or omitted can be assumed to be of significance for the legal act.

  • > you have totally misunderstood article 30 if you claim it is about unjust contracts

    Fraudulent inducement is not about unjust terms in contracts. The elements of fraudulent inducement in the US are:

      1. The other party falsely represented something to you regarding a material fact;
      2. They knew that it was false;
      3. They made the representation in order to induce you to rely on it;
      4. You did actually rely on it;
      5. You did not know that it was false; and
      6. You sustained damages as a result.
    

    I imagine it's not significantly different in Sweden.

    > According to Section 30 of the Contracts Act, a legal act cannot be enforced if the party against whom the legal act was performed caused the legal act by fraudulent misrepresentation.

    OK. We have the same law. But I don't understand what this has to do with an "I didn't read the contract" defense. Since you possess a Swedish law degree, can you cite a single case wherein a party to a contract escaped their duty to perform merely because they didn't read the contract? Assume no fraud, clear language, no misrepresentation, no unconscionable/unlawful terms, both parties are competent to enter a contract, etc.