The common core of European private law

Book abstract:

The Common Core of European Private Law project was began in Trento, Italy in 1993. In what amounts to a compilation of the views and arguments made by the various participants in this project, this book provides an up-to-date overview of the complex developments in the field, particularly in the areas of Contract, Tort and Property. While comparing the various perspectives put forward, it also aims to discuss both the methodological and practical problems the project faces, as well as the implications of the broadly harmonising and integrative private law initiatives being laid down for the European Union (EU) as a whole.

After the introduction, the book is divided into a number of sections, each devoted to a different contributor. The first section deals with the mixed system of Israeli law; that is that between Common Law and Continental Law, with work on contract law, consideration, illegality and good faith. Section two deals with the groundbreaking work of Rudolf Schlesinger, and section three turns to the unification of law, its application in the United States, as well as discussions of the economic, historical, institutional, and judicial aspects of the law. In section four, the writer puts forward an argument for a more 'conflicts-of-law' method, as oppose to the harmonisation of national and federal European private laws, and section five turns to North America in terms of its so-called 'medieval' legal construction. Section six offers ways of mapping private law; section seven explores the evolution of European private law, with work, for example, on case-law, soft-law and scientific/educational projects, and section eight considers the future of civil law in the EU. In section nine, there is an investigation into what Christian Joerges calls the 'disintegrative effects' of legislative harmonisation; Nicholas Kasirer expands on what he describes as the 'boxes and bundles' of the Common Core of European Private Law in section ten, and section eleven probes the politics and methods of comparative law. Three short papers close the book, with work on the Trento Project itself, the 'Transatlantic Common Core' of judicial discourse, and some additional alternative or 'outside' comments.