Recoge : I. The relations between fundamental rights and private law against the background of the public/private divide. -- II. The protection of the weaker party against risky financial transactions by means of fundamental rights. Synthesis and assessment.

Business law and labour law are driving forces and core areas of European private law. New concepts and approaches are thus required that are not limited to civil law and that are different from those traditionally embraced by national private law. These new challenges regarding the current status and perspectives of European private law are discussed in this volume by sixteen highly reputed researchers from across Europe. The contributions concern various areas of European private law, including contract, property, company, competition and labour law. This book will be an invaluable source for all those working on European law and private law within Europe.

“One of the most important contributions to the field of contract theory—if not the most important—in the past 25 years.” —Stephen A. Smith, McGill University Can we account for contract law on a moral basis that is acceptable from the standpoint of liberal justice? To answer this question, Peter Benson develops a theory of contract that is completely independent of—and arguably superior to—long-dominant views, which take contract law to be justified on the basis of economics or promissory morality. Through a detailed analysis of contract principles and doctrines, Benson brings out the specific normative conception underpinning the whole of contract law. Contract, he argues, is best explained as a transfer of rights, which is complete at the moment of agreement and is governed by a definite conception of justice—justice in transactions. Benson’s analysis provides what John Rawls called a public basis of justification, which is as essential to the liberal legitimacy of contract as to any other form of coercive law. The argument of Justice in Transactions is expressly complementary to Rawls’s, presenting an original justification designed specifically for transactions, as distinguished from the background institutions to which Rawls’s own theory applies. The result is a field-defining work offering a comprehensive theory of contract law. Benson shows that contract law is both justified in its own right and fully congruent with other domains—moral, economic, and political—of liberal society.

This is a carefully structured, practice-orientated textbook. The strong comparative component provides a thought-provoking international perspective, while at the same time allowing readers to gain unique insights into international commercial litigation in English courts.

Given the unprecedented recent turmoil on financial markets we now face radically challenged, 'post-Lehmann' assumptions on protecting the vulnerable in financial transactions. This collection of essays explores conceptions of, and responses to, unconscionability and similar notions across Europe with specific reference to financial transactions. It presents a detailed analysis of concepts of unconscionability in Europe against a backdrop of Commission initiatives aimed, variously, at securing a single market in financial services, producing greater coherence in EC consumer protection law and consolidating European private law. This analysis illustrates, for example, that concepts of unconscionability depend on context and can be shaped by a variety of factors. It also illustrates that jurisdictions may choose to respond to questions of unconscionability through a variety of legal instruments located in different branches of the law rather than through a single doctrine. Thus this collection illuminates many of the obstacles facing harmonisation in this area.

Our modern insistence on democratic social values has engendered an intense debate over the intersection of fundamental rights and contract law. In particular, case law in several European national jurisdictions has exerted significant pressure on traditional contract law instruments to conform more transparently with the fundamental rights enshrined in the EC Charter. This pressure is clearly evident in a number of societal areas subject to contract law, among them employment, housing, and privacy. It can even be argued, as this author does, that fundamental rights intermediate between politics and law. Taking its cue from many initiatives toward the development of a more coherent, even harmonised, European contract law, 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.

This compendium provides an introduction to the intricate interplay of fundamental rights and private law. It identifies areas of commercial and civil law where fundamental rights from different sources play a key role in the interpretation and application of private law rules. In addition, it offers a collection of case law examples from across the EU which illustrate differences and commonalities regarding the influence of fundamental rights on civil and commercial litigation. It is thus well suited for the training of judges and as a source of inspiration for national legislators. Contributors to the study co-ordinated by the European Legal Studies Institute at University of Osnabrück with the support of the European Commission’s "Fundamental Rights and Citizenship Programme" include high ranking judges as well as young researchers from across the EU. "As the Commissioner for Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship, I can only praise the pertinent purpose and the methodology of the compendium which underlines the concrete approach the authors adopted." Viviane Reding, Vice-President of the European Commission

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.

This is the third edition of the widely acclaimed and successful casebook on contract in the Ius Commune series, developed to be used throughout Europe and beyond by anyone who teaches, learns or practises law with a comparative or European perspective. The book contains leading cases, legislation and other materials from English, French and German law as the main representatives of the legal traditions within Europe, as well as EU legislation and case law and extracts from the Principles of European Contract Law. Comparisons are also made to other international restatements such as the Vienna Sales Convention, the UNIDROIT Principles of International Commercial Contracts, the Draft Common Frame of Reference and so on. Materials are chosen and ordered so as to foster comparative study, complemented with annotations and comparative overviews prepared by a multinational team. The third edition includes many new developments at the EU level (including the ill-fated proposal for a Common European Sales Law and further developments linked to the digital single market) and in national laws, in particular the major reform of the French Code civil in 2016 and 2018, the UK's Consumer Rights Act 2015 and new cases. The principal subjects covered in this book include: An overview of EU legislation and of soft law principles, and their interrelation with national law The distinctions between contract and property, tort and restitution Formation and pre-contractual liability Validity, including duties of disclosure Interpretation and contents; performance and non-performance Remedies Supervening events Third parties.

This volume analyses the theory and practice of European consumer protection in the context of consolidation initiatives seen, inter alia, in the revision of the Consumer Acquis, the Draft Common Frame of Reference and the proposal for an EU Consumer Rights Directive. The issues addressed are all the more significant given the revisions to the proposed Directive, the appointment of an 'Expert Group on a Common Frame of Reference' and the Commission's 2010 Green Paper on progress towards a European Contract Law. The contributions to this volume point to the arrival of a contested moment in EU consumer protection, questioning the arrival of the 'empowered' consumer and uncovering the fault lines between consumer protection and other goals. What emerges is a model of poly-contextual EU consumer protection law, a model that challenges the assumptions in both the 2010 Green Paper and the revised proposed Consumer Rights Directive.