An Academic Green Paper to European Contract Law


Book Description

The Contract is the core tool of governance in a free market economy. An EU Contract Law Code is now on the political agenda because all three legislative bodies in the EU and most member states favour it in principle. In its communication of July 2001, the Commission proposed three major options: to enhance the existing EC Contract Law by eliminating inconsistencies; introducing a European Code which substitutes national laws; and introducing a European code which only supplements national laws. This book achieves three things: For the first time, European academia is discussing these three options in an extensive and systematic way with pros and cons, in a transparent and systematic way, along broad lines and often also important details. The book contains the views of all protagonists from all those who really drafted the models to all those who illustrated the potential of decentralized rule-making and invented the very idea of an Optional Code. This is the first book in which the optional Code, which is the alternative most likely to come, is thoroughly analysed at all. This work also contains a full map of design possibilities. It is the executive summary of what European academia thinks of the future of European Contract Law and a European Code. It is the Academic Green Paper on European Contract Law.




The Constitutional Foundations of European Contract Law


Book Description

Situated within the context of the ongoing debate about European contract law, this book provides a detailed examination of the European Union's competence in the field of contract law. It analyses the limits of Union competence in relation to several relevant Treaty provisions which potentially confer competence on the Union to adopt a comprehensive contract law instrument and the exercise of Union competence in connection with the operation of the principles of subsidiarity, proportionality and sincere cooperation. It also explores the viability of several alternative and complementary routes to the adoption of such an instrument, including enhanced cooperation, an intergovernmental treaty and certain American techniques. Setting forth an elaborate account of the context for this debate and its chronological development at the European level, this book charts the discussions relating to the European Union's competence to regulate contract law and offers a comparative analysis of the approach taken to the approximation of contract law in the American setting. Setting forth a detailed account of the context for this debate and its chronological development at the European level, the book charts the discussions that have occurred within and outside the EU relating to the transnational competence to regulate contract law. Situating European constitutional law within the continued debate about European contract law, it also reflects upon the contract law structure of the United States and examines the viability of alternative and complementary routes to the adoption of a comprehensive instrument of substantive contract law.




The Emergence of EU Contract Law


Book Description

The emergence of a pan-European contract law is one of the most significant legal developments in Europe today. The Emergence of EU Contract Law: Exploring Europeanization examines the origins of the discipline and its subsequent evolution. It brings the discussion up-to-date with full analysis of the debate on the Common Frame of Reference and the future that this ambiguous instrument may have in the contemporary European legal framework. One of the central themes of the book is exploration of the multi-level, open architecture of the EU legal order, and the implications of that architecture for the EU's private law programme. The analysis demonstrates that the key to understanding European contract law in the 21st century lies in adopting a perspective and mechanisms suitable for a legal order populated by multiple sources of private law. Legal pluralism is offered as a theoretical construct with the capacity to shape the future of European private law, shifting the analytical spotlight beyond the traditional, centralized, legislative means of regulation. In so doing, softer mechanisms are introduced for the governance of contract law; mechanisms that enable coordination between the different sites at which contract law operates. This reorientation in thinking about European contract law, indeed about Europeanization itself, enables the inevitable diversity and pluralism that is a feature of multi-level Europe to be captured within a framework that maximizes the opportunities for mutual learning and exchange across private law sites.




Fundamental Rights in European Contract Law


Book Description

This book is the first major study to examine the following essential questions with detailed reference to actual judicial developments: To what extent do fundamental rights affect contract law? In which types of cases can fundamental rights be applied? What does the explicit consideration of fundamental rights add to contract law adjudication? The author approaches the analysis along two different avenues: first, a comparative overview of developments in case law, and second, a more general theoretical view on the interaction between fundamental rights and rules of contract law which is tested against examples from various legal systems. The focus throughout is on developments in case law, because the impact of fundamental rights in contract law has been felt on the level of dispute resolution rather than on the level of legislation. Germany and the Netherlands are chosen because their judiciaries have been notable for their early and continuing attention to the theme, and England and Italy for perspectives on developments under common law and civil law systems respectively. For its reframing of old questions and its insightful delimitations of new ones, this book offers a fresh and deeply informed new perspective on this important area of developing law. The discussion, moreover, has received an additional impulse from the debate leading up to the recent agreement on a Reform Treaty regarding the institutional settlement of the Union, which will give a legally binding status to the Nice Charter of Fundamental Rights. For these reasons and others, the book will be of great value to all interested parties in government, business, and legal practice.




The Need for a European Contract Law


Book Description

The aim of this book is to discuss the need for a uniform contract law in Europe. At present it is debated to what extent uniformity of law is required from the economic perspective. The view of the European Commission seems to be that diversity of law stands in the way of a proper functioning of the internal market, but this view does not seem to be shared by business: in the reactions to the 'Communication on European Contract Law (2001), it was striking to see that most companies do not consider the present diversity to be a true barrier to trade. This book offers five different perspectives on the need for a uniform contract law. These perspectives include economics, behavioral law and economics, psychology and law.




Constitutional Values and European Contract Law


Book Description

Two major developments in European Private and European Business Law come together when we speak about "Constitutional Values and European Contract Law". European Contract Law has become extreme?ly dynamic over the last 10 years, both in substance and perspec?tive: all core areas are considered now in legal science and in EC legislation, and there are even the prospects of some kind of codification. On the other hand, constitutional values and their impact on private law have been an issue of high concern in major Member States over decades, namely Italy and Germany, but as well the Netherlands - hence the strong presence of scholars and practising lawyers from these countries in this book. Constitutional values have, however, found their way to the EC level and the national discussions have inspired a European one, with three core values discussed: Fundamental Freedoms, fundamental rights and constitutional system building principles- such as the social welfare state or the rule of law. Their impact on private law can be sensed nowadays quite considerably also on the European level. These fundamental values are often seen as the ingredient, which renders European Private Law, namely European Contract Law, more responsive to social values or more "humane". For all these reasons, the book combines comparative law, EC Law and interdisciplinary approaches to the question "Constitutional Values and European Contract Law". Outstanding scholars from six Member States and beyond - quite a few also practising lawyers - discuss the issue and do so for the first time on such a broad and all encompassing basis.




Uniform Rules for European Contract Law?


Book Description

Over the last 30 years, the evolution of acquis communautaire in consumer law and harmonising soft law proposals have utterly transformed the landscape of European contract law. The initial enthusiasm and approval for the EU programme has waned and, post Brexit, it currently faces increasing criticism over its effectiveness. In this collection, leading academics assess the project and ask if such judgements are fair, and suggest how harmonisation in the field might be better achieved. This book looks at the uniform rules in the context of: the internal market; national legislators and courts; bridging the gap between common and civil law; and finally their influence on non-member states. Critical and rigorous, it provides a timely and unflinching critique of one of the most important fields of harmonisation in the European Union.




The Politics of the Draft Common Frame of Reference


Book Description

This collection of essays reflects both the diversity of the group's work and the common thread that runs through it. The core claim here is that the DCFR, despite the Commission's characterization of its proposals as purely technical, cannot escape politics. The intent is to critically identify and evaluate the model of social justice underlying the DCFR.