The French projet d'ordonnance, which reformed contract law, the general regime of obligations and the proof of obligations appeared in February 2015. One year later, in February 2016, the final version of the ordonnance was published. The ordonnance thoroughly reforms French contract law and the law of obligations and will enter into force in October 2016.This book results from the Contract Law Workshop of the 20th Ius Commune Conference held 26-27 November 2015. The theme of this Workshop was: 'The French Contract Law Reform: a Source of Inspiration?' Since the conference in November 2015, all authors have incorporated comments on the final version of the ordonnance. Whereas Van Loock briefly sketches the antecedents and the outcome of the reform, the other authors each tackle specific topics of the reform that surprised and/or excited the legal community. Pannebakker tackles the precontractual phase and assesses the attractiveness of the reform for international commercial transactions. Peeraer gives a critical overview of the doctrine of nullity in the ordonnance. Leone explores the potential impact of the 'significant imbalance' test in the new ordonnance on employment contracts. In their contributions, Lutzi and Oosterhuis discuss the much-debated provision that introduces the theory of imprvision. The contributions by Jansen and Verkempinck are both focused on remedies: the newly introduced price reduction remedy and damages. Storme criticises the new rules on set-off in the ordonnance, and Mah addresses the question why the final version of the ordonnance omitted the issue of interpersonal effects of fundamental rights on contractual freedom.

Technological and economical developments require contracting parties to be informed and advised: informed about the characteristics of the services or the goods they order; well advised about their choices and options; informed about the remedies that may be used against them; and well protected from the consequences of a lack of information or notification.This book analyses several aspects of these information and notification duties. It is the result of fruitful collaboration as part of the Ius Commune Research Schools Contract Law and Law of Obligations research programme. Information and notification duties were the theme of a contract law workshop during the 19th Ius Commune Conference in Edinburgh in November 2014. This book contains the proceedings of that workshop, with contributions by Sanne Jansen (Leuven), Johanna Waelkens (Leuven), Johan Vannerom (Leuven), Carien de Jager (Groningen), Joasia Luzak (Amsterdam), Gerard de Vries (Amsterdam), and Mark Kawakami and Catalina Goanta (Maastricht), with an introduction by Ilse Samoy (Leuven) and Marco B.M. Loos (Amsterdam).

This book is an in-depth study of the US and EU approaches towards consumer sales remedies. It does not limit itself to a mere comparison of the hierarchy of consumer sales remedies but covers the topic comprehensively, also examining (extra)judicial application of remedies and notification duties.Whereas EU rules prescribe a very strict hierarchy of remedies that are often misunderstood by consumers, and are very favourable towards the remedy of specific performance (or performance in kind), in the US a strong preference for damages can be found. This means that consumers often do not know which remedy they are exactly entitled to or how to invoke it in a correct manner.Learning from both systems, Consumer Sales Remedies in US and EU Comparative Perspective provides a valuable and insightful contribution to the discussion of what the organisation of remedies should look like to best protect consumers. It is written at a time when the EU is considering a 'new' consumer sales Directive, and US scholars are working on the restatement of consumer contract law. It proposes to give consumers a free choice, limited by good faith and proportionality only.

Digital Content & Distance Sales analyses three legal instruments proposed by the European Commission in the context of its Digital Single Market Strategy, which has recently become one of its priorities. The proposed instruments are: (1) a directive for the supply of digital content; (2) a directive for the online and other distance sales of goods; and (3) a regulation on cross-border portability of online content services in the internal market. This book takes a combined approach of setting out the broader legislative and political context of the proposed legal instruments, giving the reader a general overview of the background and subsequent impact of the proposals, and indepth analyses of specific aspects, advantages and challenges. Through this approach, the authors offer valuable insight into key areas of legal development.This book will be useful to academics and practitioners working in contract law, particularly European contract law.