| Abstract [eng] |
The Master’s thesis ‘Essential Inequality as a Basis for the Contract Cancellation’ sets out to investigate the principle of gross disparity and its application related problems. The first part of the paper analyses the concept of gross disparity from a historical, linguistic and teleological perspective in order to show its development from the doctrine of laesio enormis, to reveal the content and meaning of legal norms as well as to analyse the intentions of the legislator of the Republic of Lithuania. Besides, the thesis also addresses the conditions of gross disparity. It is concluded that the Lithuanian case-law and legal doctrine do not detail the content of the conditions of gross disparity; what is more, courts often limit with declarative statements on the absence of gross disparity in the contract. The lack of information on the application of the features of gross disparity leads to legal uncertainty and ambiguity, placing a difficult burden of proof on the party in the legal proceedings seeking to prove the existence of gross disparity between the contracting parties. The second part of the thesis focuses on specific types of agreements, i.e. consumer contracts and commercial contracts. This part brings forward problematic aspects regarding the consumer as the stronger party to the consumer contract and the business entity as the weaker party to the commercial contract. An assumption is made in the context of consumer contracts that the consumer may also gain undue advantage in respect of the business entity. It is assumed in the context of commercial contracts that business entities must not necessarily demonstrate an identical commercial capacity; hence, on certain occasions, the business entity may become the weaker party. The third part reviews the national legal regulation pertaining to the settlement of disputes by arbitration in order to prove that the disputes arising from gross disparity may also be settled through arbitration. What is more, examples are provided to illustrate how the International Court of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce identifies the conditions of gross disparity. |
