A proteção do contratante vulnerável: estudo em uma perspectiva civil-constitucional

Abstract

This work addresses the problem of protecting the vulnerable party to contract, aiming to present the grounds for his legal treatment. It begins with the study of the main transformations, which have affected the Modern State and their influence on the understanding of the Law, particularly in Contract Law. It analyzes the theoretical foundations of the Liberal State and the comprehension of contracts in the context of the legal order they have created and then, show the failure of this model in the presence of inequality between the parties to a contract, and the necessity of State s intervention in the economy and in the social relationships. Since then, starts a study of the Contracts theory in the Social State, dealing more specifically with the movement in the Civil Law that leaves behind the individual s mere consideration to understand it from his perspective of person, and the relevance of the constitutionalization of the Contract Law. Based on these theoretical grounds the work is directed to the study of the major changes in the Contracts theory, which has left the idea of unrestricted prevalence of freedom of choice to recognize the vulnerability of one of the parties to a contract as the relationship s balance instrument. After considering the elements that justify a different treatment to certain parties to a contract, a systematic study over the vulnerability principle in the statutory law is carried out, showing the nature of the vulnerability s legal presumption, as well as the necessary distinction between vulnerability and defenselessness, always worried about examining the practical implications resulting from such distinctions, linking them on the legislative structure which defends the vulnerable party to contract. Finally, this work intends to demonstrate the constitutional foundations for the protection of the vulnerable party to contract and its reflections on the legal treatment of the contractual relationships nowadays.