Povzetek: Pogodbeni stranki se lahko dogovorita za pogodbeno kazen, ki stranko zavezuje, da bo v primeru kršitve svoje pogodbene obveznosti nasprotni stranki plačala določen denarni znesek ali ji preskrbela drugo premoženjsko korist. Pogodbena kazen je civilna sankcija, ki zaradi svojega kaznovalnega elementa stranko odvrača od kršitve pogodbenih obveznosti. To je razlog, da dogovor o pogodbeni kazni v anglosaškem pravnem sistemu ni dopusten. V tem sistemu imajo namreč drugačno pojmovanje pogodbe in se v pogodbenem pravu želijo izogniti kaznovalnemu elementu. Novejši primeri sodne prakse so to strogo tradicionalno stališče sicer nekoliko omilili. Stranki, ki sklepata pogodbo z mednarodnim elementom, morata biti pri sklepanju pogodbe previdni, če bosta vanjo vključili določbo o pogodbeni kazni. Pri dogovarjanju o znesku, ki se plača v primeru kršitve pogodbenih obveznosti, morata jasno izraziti svoj namen - ali se želita dogovoriti za pogodbeno kazen ali morda pavšalno ali limitirano odškodnino. Posledice dogovorov so različne, še posebno če se v primeru spora uporabi pravo iz anglosaškega pravnega sistema, saj je v njem izvršljiv le dogovor, ki v primeru kršitve pogodbe predvideva znesek, ki se lahko utemelji kot resnična vnaprejšnja ocena predvidene škode, nastale zaradi te kršitve. Iz pogodbene klavzule se skuša - ob upoštevanju okoliščin vsakega primera - izluščiti namen strank, od prava, ki se uporabi v konkretnem primeru, pa bo odvisna veljavnost oziroma izvršljivost takšnega dogovora. Avtonomija strank tudi v slovenskem pravu ni neomejena, saj ni dopusten dogovor o pogodbeni kazni za denarne obveznosti, sodišča pa lahko pod določenimi pogoji tudi zmanjšajo dogovorjeno višino pogodbene kazni.
Ključne besede: pogodbena kazen, pavšalna odškodnina, kršitev pogodbe, common law, zmanjšanje pogodbene kazni
Title:Penalty Clause in Common Law System
Abstract: Contracting parties may agree on a penalty clause, which obliges one party to pay a certain amount of money or provide another property benefit to another party in the event of a violation of their contractual obligation. The penalty clause is a civil sanction, which discourages the party from violating contractual obligations due to its punitive element. Therefore, the agreement on penalty clause is not admissible in the Anglo-Saxon legal system. There is a different concept of contract in this system and a penal element is to be avoided in contract law. More recent examples of the case law have somewhat alleviated this strictly traditional attitude. Parties who conclude a contract containing an international element must be careful when concluding the contract if they include the penalty clause
. When negotiating an amount to be paid in the event of a violation of contractual obligations, the parties must clearly express their intention about whether they wish to agree on a penalty clause, or perhaps on liquidated damages or limited compensation. There are various differences in the consequences of the agreements, especially if the Anglo-Saxon law is applied in the case of a dispute. In such cases, the only executed agreement will be the one that suggests an amount justified as a genuine pre-estimate of damages resulting from the violation of the contract. The contractual clause seeks to clarify the purpose of the parties, taking into account the circumstances of each case. Validity and execution of such an agreement will depend on the applicable law. The autonomy of the parties is not unlimited in Slovenian law either, as it is not possible to agree on penalty clause for pecuniary obligation and the courts may, under certain conditions, also reduce the penalty clause.
Keywords: penalty clause, liquidated damages, breach of contract, common law, reduction of the penalty clause
