問28
頻出度★★☆
別段の取決めがない請負契約の場合, 民法に基づき, 当事者である注文者又は請負人に課せられている義務のうち, 適切なものはどれか。
平成22年度 秋期 ITパスポート試験 問28
ストラテジ系法務 › 労働関連・取引関連法規
This question's explanation and your answers so far.
解説
問 28
- ア
正解 The correct answer is (ア) The contractor completes the work undertaken. Article 632 of the Civil Code defines a contract for work (ukeoi) as a contract in which one party (the contractor) promises to complete a certain job, and the other party (the orderer) promises to pay remuneration for the result of that job. In other words, what the contractor owes is an obligation as to a result, namely completing the work, and this is the essence of a contract for work. In system development terms, the contractor (the vendor) is responsible all the way up to completing and delivering a system that runs according to the agreed specifications. Conversely, no matter how diligently the work is carried out, if it is left unfinished the obligation has not been discharged, and in principle no remuneration can be claimed. This is the decisive difference from a quasi-mandate contract (Civil Code Articles 656 and 644), where it is enough to handle the affairs with the care of a good manager and completion of a deliverable is not promised. The question states that there is no special arrangement, so we simply apply the default rules of the Civil Code as they stand without any special terms in the contract, and those rules point to the obligation to complete the work, which is choice ア.
Incorrectイ
What a contract for work requires is the result, that is, that the work be completed; in principle it does not matter who actually carries out the tasks. The contractor therefore has no duty to perform the work personally, and unless there is a special arrangement it is free to subcontract to a third party. In practice, a prime vendor in system development commonly subcontracts part of the process to partner companies. Note that in mandate and quasi-mandate contracts, which are based on a relationship of trust between the parties, re-delegation is restricted in principle; it is worth remembering this as another difference from a contract for work.
Incorrectウ
If the completed work has a defect (a point that does not conform to the contract), the contractor does bear liability, but that liability is not permanent; it is limited in time. Under the Civil Code as it stood when this question was set, liability for defects could be pursued only within a fixed period after delivery of the object and the like (one year in principle, and five or ten years for buildings and other structures on land). The current Civil Code likewise imposes a time limit under liability for non-conformity with the contract: if the orderer does not give notice within one year from becoming aware of the non-conformity, the liability can no longer be pursued. Liability does not continue indefinitely, so this choice is wrong.
Incorrectエ
Under Article 633 of the Civil Code, remuneration for a contract for work is in principle paid at the same time as delivery of the object of the work, and where no delivery is required it is paid after the work has been completed. In other words, the default rule is payment afterwards, not in advance, and the orderer has no duty to prepay the costs to the contractor. Down payments and interim payments do occur in practice, but only where the parties have individually agreed to them in the contract; under this question, whose premise is that there is no special arrangement, the Civil Code rule of payment after completion applies.
ここがポイント
- A contract for work (Civil Code Article 632) = the contractor promises to complete a job and the orderer promises to pay remuneration for its result. The core obligation is completion, and as a rule remuneration is paid afterwards, in exchange for completion of the work and delivery of the object (Article 633). There is no duty to perform personally, so subcontracting is in principle free.
- The contrast between a contract for work and a quasi-mandate is a frequent exam point. Under a contract for work the contractor is responsible for completing the deliverable and also bears liability for non-conformity (formerly called defect liability), though that liability is time-limited. Under a quasi-mandate it is enough to handle the affairs with the care of a good manager, and completion is not promised. In IT contracts, a typical split is a quasi-mandate for requirements definition and a contract for work for design and development.
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