Lord Sumption has been one of the most influential judges of his generation. This book critically reflects on the important and controversial issues raised by his jurisprudence. Using Lord Sumption's judgments and extra-judicial lectures as a starting point, the book contains a selection of essays that consider 'where next' in relation to topics such as: - contract variation, damages and penalties; - economic loss and personal injury in tort law; - knowing receipt and proprietary restitution; - illegality in private law; - agency and attribution; - piercing the corporate veil; - foreign law in the English courts. The book covers a broad range of areas in private law including contract, tort, unjust enrichment, equity, company and commercial law, as well as private international law and civil procedure.

The topics addressed in this book have traditionally been covered in separate publications on civil and commercial law. This dualism of regimes has made it difficult for students and professionals alike to comprehend Spanish private law as a whole. In the past this has led to inefficient duplication of explanations, gaps in key areas and an altogether fragmented picture. Introduction to Spanish Private Law presents a consolidated, modern, and realistic image of today’s Spanish private legal system. It combines both civil and commercial law and integrates them in the same book, making the overall subject far more accessible to readers. This united approach results in a more logical and efficient process of learning. Finally the issues that are addressed reflect the reality of today’s economic and legal scene. This book attempts to provide the readers with the necessary legal instruments to tackle the real problems arising from a globalized modern society. The general principles in this book are presented from a practical point of view that emanates from the authors’ conception of a legal system as an instrument to solve social problems in accordance with a set of principles, values and aims.

It’s long been known that Japanese file fewer lawsuits per capita than Americans do. Yet explanations for the difference have tended to be partial and unconvincing, ranging from circular arguments about Japanese culture to suggestions that the slow-moving Japanese court system acts as a deterrent. With Second-Best Justice, J. Mark Ramseyer offers a more compelling, better-grounded explanation: the low rate of lawsuits in Japan results not from distrust of a dysfunctional system but from trust in a system that works—that sorts and resolves disputes in such an overwhelmingly predictable pattern that opposing parties rarely find it worthwhile to push their dispute to trial. Using evidence from tort claims across many domains, Ramseyer reveals a court system designed not to find perfect justice, but to “make do”—to adopt strategies that are mostly right and that thereby resolve disputes quickly and economically. An eye-opening study of comparative law, Second-Best Justice will force a wholesale rethinking of the differences among alternative legal systems and their broader consequences for social welfare.

New Private Law Theory is pluralist, comparative, application-oriented, transnational and reflects critical approaches.

Is Private International Law (PIL) still fit to serve its function in today’s global environment? In light of some calls for radical changes to its very foundations, this timely book investigates the ability of PIL to handle contemporary and international problems, and inspires genuine debate on the future of the field.

The Humanity of Private Law presents a new way of thinking about English private law. Making a decisive break from earlier views of private law, which saw private law as concerned with wealth-maximisation or preserving relationships of mutual independence between its subjects, the author argues that English private law's core concern is the flourishing of its subjects. THIS VOLUME - presents a critique of alternative explanations of private law; - defines and sets out the key building blocks of private law; - sets out the vision of human flourishing (the RP) that English private law has in mind in seeking to promote its subjects' flourishing; - shows how various features of English private law are fine-tuned to ensure that its subjects enjoy a flourishing existence, according to the vision of human flourishing provided by the RP; - explains how other features of English private law are designed to preserve private law's legitimacy while it pursues its core concern of promoting human flourishing; - defends the view of English private law presented here against arguments that it does not adequately fit the rules and doctrines of private law, or that it is implausible to think that English private law is concerned with promoting human flourishing. A follow-up volume will question whether the RP is correct as an account of what human flourishing involves, and consider what private law would look like if it sought to give effect to a more authentic vision of human flourishing. The Humanity of Private Law is essential reading for students, academics and judges who are interested in understanding private law in common law jurisdictions, and for anyone interested in the nature and significance of human flourishing.

The Oxford Handbook of the New Private Law promises to help redefine and reinvigorate the subject of private law, a domain that includes property, contract, and tort law, as well as intellectual property, unjust enrichment, and equity. It emphasizes cross-cutting perspectives and relations between areas of private law, with special attention to the doctrines and structures of the law-an approach now known as "the New Private Law." This perspective includes explanation, justification, and criticism of existing law, reflecting the conviction of the editors that it makes sense to know what the law is in order to be in a position to criticize and reform it. The Handbook will be an essential resource for legal scholars interested in the future of this important field.

Private Enforcement of European Competition and State Aid Law Current Challenges and the Way Forward Edited by: Ferdinand Wollenschläger, Wolfgang Wurmnest & Thomas M.J. Möllers The overlapping European Union (EU) regimes of competition law and State aid law both provide mechanisms allowing private plaintiffs to claim compensation for losses or damages. It is thus of significant practical value to provide, as this book does, analysis and guidance on achieving enforcement of such claims, written by renowned authorities in the two fields. The book examines the two areas of law both from an EU perspective and from the perspectives of private enforcement in France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and the United Kingdom. In country reports for these major jurisdictions, as well as in more general and comparative chapters, the authors focus on such issues as the following: impediments to private enforcement; which entity is liable for damages; binding effect of decisions of competition authorities; limitation of actions; collective actions and pooling of claims; enforcement of the standstill obligation (Article 108(3) TFEU); remedies and information deficits; cooperation and coordination between national courts and the European Commission; transposition of the so-called Damages Directive (Directive 2014/104/EU) by the EU Member States; extent to which the strengthening of private enforcement of competition law has a spillover effect on State aid law; and prospects for harmonisation of State aid law. A concluding section identifies enforcement deficits and proposes ways to improve the existing legal framework. As an in-depth assessment of key obstacles and best practices in private enforcement actions, this highly informative and practical volume facilitates choice of the best forum for competition and State aid law cases. Academics and practitioners engaged with this important area of European law will appreciate the authors’ awareness of the economic need and legal particularities which could generate an effective European system of private enforcement of legitimate claims under EU competition and State aid law.

Elgar Advanced Introductions are stimulating and thoughtful introductions to major fields in the social sciences and law, expertly written by the world’s leading scholars. Designed to be accessible yet rigorous, they offer concise and lucid surveys of the substantive and policy issues associated with discrete subject areas. In this Advanced Introduction, one of the world’s leading private law scholars takes the reader on an intellectual journey through the different facets and dimensions of the field, from the family home to Kuta Beach and from Thomas Piketty to Nina Hagen. This concise book provides an accessible and fresh introduction to private law, presenting the topic as a unified whole of which the main branches – on contract, tort, property, family and inheritance – are governed by conflicts between individual autonomy and countervailing principles. The book stands out as a unique account of how private law allows individuals to optimally flourish in matters of economy, work, leisure, family and life in general.

Challenging traditional accounts of the development of American private law, Peter Karsten offers an important new perspective on the making of the rules of common law and equity in nineteenth-century courts. The central story of that era, he finds, was a