Exercising the Exception to Non-performance in the Purchase Agreement

. Due to the development and evolution of the society in general, we are witnessing a continuous multiplication and diversification of the contracts concluded between different individuals or legal entities. The legal literature has shown that the notion of special contracts is an intermediate link between the general theory of obligations, which lays down the rules for the formation and execution of contracts in a general and abstract manner and the individual contract that specifically connects two or more persons. The purchase agreement is very important in Romanian civil law because, through it, the alienation or the acquisition of the right of ownership or other rights over the goods in the civil circuit is achieved. In a purchase agreement, according to Article 1720 of the New Romanian Civil Code, the buyer may refuse to pay the price if the seller does not deliver the good and if there is an imminent danger of eviction (art.1722 of the New Civil Code). The opposite is also valid, i.e. the seller is entitled to refuse to deliver the good, unless the price is paid, according to Art.1693 of the New Romanian Civil Code. In the new regulation of the Romanian Civil Code, the practical applications of the exception to non-performance, generally accepted in doctrine and jurisprudence, are found in the field of the purchase agreement. Thus, the exception to non-performance is a preventive defense tool, which can be used by both the seller and the buyer, protecting thus the respective contracting party and being an important means of putting pressure on the other co-contractor, having a very effective comminatory nature.