The European codification project has rapidly gathered pace since the turn of the century. This monograph considers the codification project in light of a series of broader analytical frameworks - comparative, historical and constitutional - which make modern codification phenomena intelligible. This new reading across fields renders the European codification project (currently being promoted through the Common Frame of Reference and the Optional Sales Law Code proposal) vulnerable to constitutionally-grounded criticism, traceable to normative considerations of private law authority and legitimacy. Arguing that modern codification phenomena are more complex than positivist, socio-legal and historical approaches have suggested over the past two centuries, the book stages a pathbreaking method of analysis of the law-discourse (nomos-centred) which questions at once the reduction of private law to legislation and of law to power and, on this basis, redefines the ways in which to counter law's disintegration and crisis in the context of Europeanisation. Professor Niglia reconstructs the European codification project as a complex structure of government-in-the-making that embodies a set of contingent world views, excludes alternatives, challenges the plurality of private laws and entrenches conflicts that pertain not only to form (codification, de-codification, recodification) but also to dilemmas implicated in determining the substantive orientation of European private law. The book investigates the position of the codifiers and their discontents in the shadow of the codification strategy pursued by the European Commission - noting a new turn in the struggle over the configuration of private law which has taken place since the Savigny-Thibaut dispute of 1814 which this book critically revisits exactly two centuries later. This monograph is particularly aimed at readers interested in exploring the complexities, and interconnections, of the supposedly separate realms of comparative law, European law, private law, legal history, constitutional law, sociology of law and, last but not least, legal theory and jurisprudence.

This book explores the evolution of contract law in England, France, Germany and Italy during the last one hundred years from the perspectives of law and its context. Dr Niglia's treatment of contract law is fundamentally distinct from that in legal comparativist studies. It reassesses classical descriptive, analytical and normative positions and thoroughly submits that contract law is not a legal abstraction. It is part of a more concrete story of societal developments, the reflection of each polity's legal and political order. In particular, the book discovers an interaction between the core area of contract law, the law of standard form contracts, and the socio-economic and political history of the past century of England, France, Germany and Italy. As such, it is argued that the law has been strongly influenced by defining state 'choices' about the citizenry's welfare and security. The key argument is provided that during the course of the last decade--as a result of the epoch-making impact of Community 're-regulatory' processes--a major transformation of the legal structure has been gaining ground, alas yet unnoticed in legal comparative studies. In the first instance, the book engages those interested in contract law and its 'Europeanisation', in the law of standard form contracts, and in comparative and economico-legal aspects of contract law. However, this book will also interest the reader expert in Community law, even if unconcerned with contract law. It is a studious investigation into one of the 'underworlds' of which European integration is composed. It looks at certain aspects which are central to Community consumer policy, and it presents an in-depth analysis of themaking and enforcement of the directive on unfair terms in consumer contracts.

There remains an urgent need for a deeper discussion of the theoretical, political, and federal dimensions of the European codification project. While much valuable work has already been undertaken, the essays in this collection take as their starting point the proposition that further reflection and critical thought will enhance the quality and efficacy of the on-going work of the various codification bodies. The book's papers are written by: prestigious scholars on the foundations of European private law; representatives of the Common Frame of Reference, the Study Group, and the Acquis Group; and those who have not been involved in particular projects, but who have previously commented more distantly on their work - for instance, those belonging to the Trento Group and the Social Justice Group. With these groups' contributions, The Foundations of European Private Law represents the most comprehensive attempt so far to survey the state of the codification project; its theoretical, political, and federal foundations; and the future prospects for enforcement and compliance.

European private law has hitherto tended to be conceptualised firmly around ideas of unity and harmony. Yet the discourse within other areas of European law, notably constitutional law scholarship, visibly adopts pluralist perspectives. This book seeks to bridge the gap between 'public' and 'private' law by looking at European private law from various pluralist positions and by investigating old and new ways in which to understand legal pluralism in general. It fills a gap in the wide literature on legal pluralism, as the first book entirely dedicated to offering an insight into legal pluralism from the vantage point of the private law domain. The book addresses critically issues such as what pluralism really means in private law and what conceptions of pluralism it embodies, including discussion about the outer boundaries of any of the pluralist understandings. Contributions address comparative, critical, historical, theoretical and normative aspects. The book provides an opportunity to engage innovatively with problematic conceptual issues which inform the work of European private law scholars, including the debate on the Common Frame of Reference Poject of the European Commision.

This book proposes a new analysis of the transformation of Europe through integration, exactly 30 years after the beginning of transformation scholarship. It consists of a reconstruction of the development and present condition of European integration in relation to private ordering. Looking at the interface between, on the one hand, the EU constitutional order and, on the other hand, private ordering, the book recounts three major structural transformations over the last six decades. Delving into the private law areas most exposed to the current modernisation wave – consumer law, internal market, lex mercatoria, digitisation, artificial intelligence, data protection, standardised contracts, finance and political economy, and labour – the book critically explores a reconfiguration of Europe’s constitutional structures relative to, and that results from, what to some appears to be an almost irresistible rise of private ordering through a transformed hermeneutics (balancing). This is a magisterial survey of European law, European private law, and comparative law seen through a pathbreaking comparative methodology labelled ‘juridical comparative hermeneutics’ within civil law systems and across the civil-common law divide, which offers innovative analytical tools that afford a deep understanding of the evolution of the disciplines.

In an era that seeks to challenge the notion of the universality of human rights, this thought-provoking book explores their fundamental nature and considers the work and influence of German legal scholar and constitutional lawyer Robert Alexy, on contemporary jurisprudence and European Union law. What is the justification of balancing versus trading off fundamental rights against other rights and collective goods? Are there utilitarian considerations that can limit the normative force of human rights? Utilising both ''ideal'' and ''critical'' perspectives, this innovative book focuses on those inevitable questions which lie at the heart of any contemporary human rights discourse, as the premise of the dual nature of law is developed. A corresponding 'normative' perspective seeks to investigate the broader legal domains of the topic. This analytical book will be a key resource for students and scholars working in the fields of jurisprudence and legal theory, history and philosophy of law and comparative and EU law alike.

The European codification project has rapidly gathered pace since the turn of the century. This monograph considers the codification project in light of a series of broader analytical frameworks - comparative, historical and constitutional - which make modern codification phenomena intelligible. This new reading across fields renders the European codification project (currently being promoted through the Common Frame of Reference and the Optional Sales Law Code proposal) vulnerable to constitutionally-grounded criticism, traceable to normative considerations of private law authority and legitimacy. Arguing that modern codification phenomena are more complex than positivist, socio-legal and historical approaches have suggested over the past two centuries, the book stages a pathbreaking method of analysis of the law-discourse (nomos-centred) which questions at once the reduction of private law to legislation and of law to power and, on this basis, redefines the ways in which to counter law's disintegration and crisis in the context of Europeanisation. Professor Niglia reconstructs the European codification project as a complex structure of government-in-the-making that embodies a set of contingent world views, excludes alternatives, challenges the plurality of private laws and entrenches conflicts that pertain not only to form (codification, de-codification, recodification) but also to dilemmas implicated in determining the substantive orientation of European private law. The book investigates the position of the codifiers and their discontents in the shadow of the codification strategy pursued by the European Commission - noting a new turn in the struggle over the configuration of private law which has taken place since the Savigny-Thibaut dispute of 1814 which this book critically revisits exactly two centuries later. This monograph is particularly aimed at readers interested in exploring the complexities, and interconnections, of the supposedly separate realms of comparative law, European law, private law, legal history, constitutional law, sociology of law and, last but not least, legal theory and jurisprudence.