Equality has been seen as the core of any quest of justice since Aristotle's Nicomachian Ethics. Reaching not only situational equality, but equality in status, however, had not been achieved until modern times. The father of ethics and his systematic enquiry into the concept of justice did not have any problems with foreigners without rights, women as second-class citizens and enslaving people - nor did antiquity at large, medieval era or even the high renaissance. While suum cuique (treating equal issues equally and unequal issues unequally) had been in place since antiquity and Cicero, personal status still had to wait to be recognised as a target of equality concerns. Related to this, no agenda was designed for achieving a paradigm reaching beyond mere formal equality, which only implies treating same things formally the same, and the material quest for equality has come to the fore as a vision only very recently. This book explores these issues - from general equality to equality also in personal status, hence also anti-discrimination, and the change from formal to material concepts of equality - in time and in theoretical approaches. In time, it describes firstly how the equality of indigenous people in Latin America was originally developed as a postulate on the basis of the Bible (all men are similar to God) and from that also as a postulate of equality in law. It further describes how this postulate became a rule of natural law and then a powerful political value, also for the masses and daily reality, in the French Revolution (and in the US), then as posited law. In the theory and history of philosophical thought, two questions are discussed in particular. The first is how and whether 'more material protection' cannot only be conceived for freedom at all, but as well for equality, even if it is so contingent in times and diverse societies ('what is equal')? The second is whether - beyond personal status - an absolute equality right exists nowadays, namely absolutely equal dignity for human beings? This discussion is followed by how to integrate equality into economics, so targeted towards differentiation in all matters, and efficiency of selection. It is further followed by how sociology's prime quest nowadays might well be the very core of the question: the search for more material protection, namely against systemic discriminations, and such a search even in the toughest contexts such as digitalization.

New Private Law Theory opens a new pathway to private law theory through a pluralistic approach. Such a theory needs a broad and stable foundation, which the authors have built here through a canon of nearly seventy texts of reference. This book brings these different texts from different disciplines into conversation with each other, grouping them around central questions of private law and at the same time integrating them with the legal doctrinal analysis of example cases. This book will be accessible to both experienced and early career scholars working on private law.

The book provides a broad and topical perspective of the sources of modern contract law. It examines the creation of contract law as a multi-pronged occurrence that involves diverse types of normative content and various actors. The book encompasses both a classical perspective on contract law as a state-created edifice and also delves into the setting of contractual rules by non-state actors. In so doing, the volume thoroughly analyses present-day developments to make sense of shifting attitudes towards the overall regulatory paradigm of contract law and those that reshape the classic view of the sources of contract law. The latter concerns, in particular, the digitalisation of markets and growing trends towards granularisation and personalisation of rules. The book builds on the EU private law perspective as its primary point of reference. At the same time, its reach goes far beyond this domain to include in-depth analysis from the vantage points of general contract theory and comparative analysis. In so doing, it pays particular attention to theoretical foundations of sources of contract law and values that underpin them. By adopting such diversified perspectives, the book attempts to provide for a better understanding of the nature and functions of present-day contract law by capturing the multitude of social and economic dynamics that shape its normative landscape. The volume gathers a unique and distinguished group of contributors from the EU, USA and Israel. They bring research experience from various areas of private law and contribute with diverse conceptual perspectives.

General clauses or standards (Generalklauseln, clauses generales) are legal rules which are not precisely formulated, terms and concepts which in fact do not even have a clear core. They are often applied in varying degrees in various legal systems to a rather wide range of contract cases when certain issues arise - issues such as abuse of rights, unfairness, good faith, fairness of duty or loyalty or honesty, duty of care, and other such contract terms not lending themselves readily to clear or permanent definition. Here, for the first time, is a systematic discussion of this kind of rule in the evolving and dynamic context of European contract law. A collection of twelve insightful essays by leading European law authorities, the book is based on a conference organized jointly by the Society of European Contract Law (SECOLA) and l'Association Henri Capitant, held in the 'grande salle' of the French Supreme Court in Paris in 2005. The subject is approached along three distinct but interconnected avenues: comparative contract law, in which the different models to be found among Member States - particularly the Germanic, French, and English common law systems - are explored with an eye to differences and common ground; EC contract law, in which the general clause approach has tended to focus on labour law and consumer law, and in which the European Court of Justice more and more assumes the final say; and, the European codification dimension, in which a potential instrument on the European level would compete with national laws and develop closely with them. The authors demonstrate that a focus on general clauses in contract law, embracing as it does a wide range of types of contracts, helps enormously with the necessary integration of legal scholarship and economic approaches, and of legal science and legal practice in the field. Numerous analytic references to relevant cases and EC Directives give a practical impetus to the far-reaching but immediately applicable theory presented in this important book. As European contract law continues to develop rapidly, this seminal contribution is sure to increase in value and usefulness.

Over the last decade, the time period that is also covered by the two editions of this book, European company law has been re-written completely. Virtually no EU measure remained unchanged and most of them have undergone fundamental reform. This is astonishing since almost half of these measures only came into existence after the turn of the millennium.In the last five years 'modern' European company law has been characterized by a strong foundation of accounting law, i.e. the basic information scheme in international models (IFRS), the practicability and reality of cross-border mobility in its different types, the considerable success - at last - of European company types, namely in the form of the European Company which has been adopted by many blue chip companies, and finally by governance, governance and governance. The latter also experiencing a remarkable renaissance of shareholders' rights, namely voting right schemes. In times of crisis this is the equipment with which the challenges have to be met. This book discusses the EC/EU law first including all instruments through which it is transposed into the national law systems. However, where no EC/EU law exists, a comparative law discussion and policy aspects, namely law and economics, fill the gaps. The whole organism of (limited liability) company law is thus covered.In addition to organization, accounting, finance and the closely related capital market law European Company Law covers the cornerstones of EC/EU corporate tax and insolvency law. This broad scientific perspective of the 'European' in company law remains unique and is of greatest value for top-level practice and highly-ranked policy discussions. About this edition'With expert works like this one by professor Grundmann, richly referenced and fairly open to auxiliary sciences (such as the economic analysis of law), the doctrine should be able to rationalise and effectively guide the discussion. From within France we should wish - and act -so that this scientific systematisation effort does not become [...] the monopoly of our colleagues from across the Rhine; colleagues to whom we are grateful for their careful pioneering.'Louis D'Avout in RTDeur (2012) lxxAbout the first edition'Both the general reader [...] and those interested more specifically in company law and corporate finance will benefit from this book. It makes valuable reading for academics, practitioners and regulators/policy makers, and is very stimulating and welcome.'Thomas Papadopoulos in Common Market Law Review 2009 (1019).

This book introduces and develops Contract Governance as a new approach to contract theory. While the concept of governance has already been developed in Williamson's seminal article, it has, ironically, not received much attention in general contract law theory. Indeed, Contract Governance appears to be an important and necessary complement to corporate governance and in fact, as the second, equally important pillar of governance research in the core of private law. With this in mind, Grundmann, Moeslein, and Riesenhuber provide a novel approach in setting an international and interdisciplinary research agenda for developing contract law scholarship. Contract Governance focuses particularly on the ways in which a governance perspective leads to research questions that have been neglected in traditional contract law scholarship, and how, from a governance perspective, the questions are dealt with in a different manner and style. Combining substantive chapters and commentaries, this collection of essays addresses an array of topics, including: third party impact and contract governance problems in herd behaviour; governance of networks of contracts; governance in long-term contractual relationships; contract governance and rule setting; and contract governance and political dimensions.

The European Banking Union, with its own EU supervisory institutions such as the ECB, has had us forget that banking law mainly consists of transactions with and between clients. It is to a large extent (European) contract law. This volume investigates how the post-crisis supervisory regime of the EU and the Eurozone impacts on bank managers' duties and on market transactions: in their relationship to the large range of stakeholders, including the public as such, in current lending and investment transactions, in the phase of recovery and resolution (with bail-ins triggering changes of contractual rights), but also in adjudication, namely in banking related ADR schemes. It concludes with a look at the ongoing endeavour to extend the banking union to a capital market and more generally a financial union.

This book introduces and develops the paradigm of the organisational contract in European contract law. Suggesting that a more radical distinction should be made between contracts which regulate single or spot exchanges and contracts that organize complex economic activities without creating a new legal entity, the book argues that this distinction goes beyond that between spot and relational contracts because it focuses on the organizational dimension of contracting and its governance features. Divided into six parts, the volume brings together a group of internationally renowned experts to examine the structure of long-term contractual cooperation; networks of contracts; knowledge exchange in long-term contractual cooperation; remedies and specific governance rules in long-term relationships; and the move towards legislation. The book will be of value to academics and researchers in the areas of private law, economic theory and sociology of law, and organizational theory. It will also be a useful resource for practitioners working in international contract law and international business transaction law.

European Contract Law in the Digital Age offers an overview of the interactions between digital technologies and contract law and takes into account the two (late) 2015 EU Commission proposals on digital contracting and digital content. The book goes beyond these proposals and is grouped around the three pillars of an architecture of contract law in the digital age: the regulatory framework; digital interventions over the life-cycle of the contract; and digital objects of contracting.The discussion of the regulatory framework looks at the platforms used for digital contracting such as Airbnb which are particularly important instruments for the formation of digital contracts. In describing the life-cycle of the contract, this book shows how four key technologies (digital platforms, Big Data analytics, artificial intelligence, and blockchain) are being used at different stages of the contractual process, from the screening for contractual partners to formation, enforcement and interpretation. Furthermore, digitally facilitated contracting increasingly relates to digital content for instance software or search engines as the object of the contract but while this area has notably been shaped by the proposed Directive on Contracts for the Supply of Digital Content, this work shows that important questions remain unanswered.This book highlights how the digital dimension opens a new chapter in the concept of contracting, both questioning and revisiting many of its core concepts. It is a reliable resource on topical developments for everyone interested in digital technologies and contract law.

This book introduces and develops the paradigm of the organisational contract in European contract law. Suggesting that a more radical distinction should be made between contracts which regulate single or spot exchanges and contracts that organize complex economic activities without creating a new legal entity, the book argues that this distinction goes beyond that between spot and relational contracts because it focuses on the organizational dimension of contracting and its governance features. Divided into six parts, the volume brings together a group of internationally renowned experts to examine the structure of long-term contractual cooperation; networks of contracts; knowledge exchange in long-term contractual cooperation; remedies and specific governance rules in long-term relationships; and the move towards legislation. The book will be of value to academics and researchers in the areas of private law, economic theory and sociology of law, and organizational theory. It will also be a useful resource for practitioners working in international contract law and international business transaction law.

This compilation of texts on European private law makes available to both students and practitioners alike a comprehensive paperback edition of good value focused on the core fields of European private law: contract law, employment law, and corporate law. This edition's special advantage is that it is available in one volume.

German civil law political theory is not in high demand these days. However, political theory is important for establishing an overall picture of German civil law and portraying an image of German civil law to Europe and beyond. This is especially true in times when ideas are widely circulated and the circulation itself can be useful for influencing transnational legal realities. The collected essays on German civil law instructors presented in this work aim to contribute to just such a political theory. This two volume edition is based on the lecture series a oe20th Century German Civil Law Instructors Described by their Studentsa that was held at the Humboldt-UniversitAt Berlin, the Europa-UniversitAt Viadrina at Frankfurt (Oder), and the Ruhr-UniversitAt Bochum.

German civil law political theory is not in high demand these days. However, political theory is important for establishing an overall picture of German civil law and portraying an image of German civil law to Europe and beyond. This is especially true in times when ideas are widely circulated and the circulation itself can be useful for influencing transnational legal realities. The collected essays on German civil law instructors presented in this work aim to contribute to just such a political theory. This two volume edition is based on the lecture series a oe20th Century German Civil Law Instructors Described by their Studentsa that was held at the Humboldt-UniversitAt Berlin, the Europa-UniversitAt Viadrina at Frankfurt (Oder), and the Ruhr-UniversitAt Bochum.

The current financial crisis is preoccupying business and politics like no prior crisis. The economic effects are being felt on global, European, and national levels and are forcing governments to take extreme counter-measures. The long-term goal is not merely stabilization but rather to stabilize the financial system. System stability requires a regulatory framework that can comprehensively prevent possible future crises. For the first time at a conference held at the Humboldt-University in Berlin, leading experts from the legal and economic academic fields discussed the common effects and impact of the financial crisis on the (future) economic system.

[Writings pertaining to European and international private, banking and commercial law] Europeanization and internationalization challenge the realm of jurisprudence to an extraordinary degree. The division in special fields and the relationship with other social sciences necessitate critical reevaluation in view of many interactions. Cross-references between commercial law regulation and private, autonomous arrangement distinctly show this development. Jurisprudence emerging beyond Germany has to deal with such challenges. The law of financial services serves as an example of the cross-section material from private law and (public) commercial law. This takes into account the series at hand in terms of content and method. In addition to banking, capital market and financial law as the main emphasis, corporate law, competition & cartel law, intangible property rights, insolvency law and also labor law show similar overlaps. The intensive internationally-oriented treatment of the overlaps of classical private law - in particular contractual law - and commercial law promise a bountiful yield, especially on the European level under the summarizing aspect of corporate law. The outstanding monography also finds its place in the series, as well as the conference volume, works in German and also occasional works in English. There are economically-aligned works in addition to juridical works constituting the main emphasis. Works pertaining to Europeanization and internationalization are compiled in the series, which convey commercial law and commercially-conceived private law in an outstanding manner.

This compilation of texts on European private law makes available to both students and practitioners alike a comprehensive paperback edition of good value focused on the core fields of European private law: contract law, employment law, and corporate law. This edition's special advantage is that it is available in one volume.

Choice is a key concept of our time. It is a foundational mechanism for every legal order in societies that are, politically, constituted as democracies and, economically, built on the market mechanism. Thus, choice can be understood as an atomic structure that grounds core societal processes. In recent years, however, the debate over the right way to theorize choice - for example, as a rational or a behavioral type of decision making - has intensified. This collection provides an in-depth discussion of the promises and perils of specific types of theories of choice. It shows how the selection of a specific theory of choice can make a difference for concrete legal questions, in particular in the regulation of the digital economy or in choosing between market, firm, or network. In its first part, the volume provides an accessible overview of the current debates about rational versus behavioral approaches to theories of choice. The remainder of the book structures the vast landscape of theories of choice along with three main types: individual, collective, and organizational decision making. As theories of choice proliferate and become ever more sophisticated, however, the process of choosing an adequate theory of choice becomes increasingly intricate. This volume addresses this selection problem for the various legal arenas in which individual, organizational, and collective decisions matter. By drawing on economic, technological, political, and legal points of view, the volume shows which theories of choice are at the disposal of the legally relevant decision-maker, and how they can be operationalized for the solution of concrete legal problems. The editors acknowledge the kind support of the Fritz Thyssen Foundation for an exploratory conference on the subject of the book.

Die Frage nach der Privatautonomie und ihren Grenzen spielt seit jeher eine bedeutende Rolle in den nationalen Vertrags- und Privatrechten. Auf europaischer Ebene dominieren Regeln, die zwar die Informationenpreisgabe zwingend vorschreiben, die Bestimmung des Vertragsinhalts dann jedoch wieder den Parteien uberantworten. Dieses Grundsatzthema uber Geist und Funktionieren des Binnenmarktes, mit dem nach einer moeglichst weitgehenden Erhaltung von Freiheit bei gleichzeitiger Verburgung der notwendigen Schutzziele gefragt ist, ist Gegenstand des vorliegenden Bandes. Es wird hier von Rechtswissenschaftlern und OEkonomen aus verschiedenen Mitgliedstaaten und den U.S.A. eroertert. Zentraler Betrachtungsgegenstand ist die Informationsregel und ihre Ausgestaltung. Insgesamt vereint der Band zweierlei, zum einen die Grundsatzdiskussion - rechtswissenschaftlich, europarechtlich und oekonomisch - zum Regelungsansatz im Recht des Binnenmarkthandels und zum wichtigsten Instrument, der Informationsregel mit ihrer freiheitserhaltenden Grundausrichtung. Andererseits bietet er eine dogmatische Aufbereitung wesentlicher Teile des Rechts des Binnenmarkthandels, des Europaischen Schuldvertragsrechts.

"This book is an attempt at architectural criticism" that is how Robert Venturi opened the discussion on Post-Modernism in architecture in Complexity and Contradiction in Architecturea generation ago. And this was a typical beginning. Criticism of the Modern movement by architects like Le Corbusier Mies van der Rohe and to extent Frank Lloyd Wright as well that had preceded it was central to Post-Modernism. Soon the architectural historians joined in with the architects, particularly Charles Jencks in the English-speaking world and Heinrich Klotz in Germany. Here too Post-Modern-ism was the start, with three fundamental critical points about Modernism: fundamental emptiness of its architecture, its lack of relation to its surroundings and its overemphasis of functionalism against decoration. And so, even if one does not use pamphlets like Tom Wolfe's or Jencks' early work as a yardstick, the image of the buildings by what are still the best-known architects of our century is strongly overshadowed. The truth is that the International Style reflects the basic forces that architecture can express extraordinarily impressively and al-ways with decided interplay, and thus also with a pronounced unity of effect; and additionally it develops these formal values especially intensively from content. Traditionally such things are called classical. What followed this, the whole spectrum of styles from late Modernism via High-Tech and Deconstructivism to Post-Modernism is all a reaction to the unity of the International Style: either one point in terms of form or content is taken out, exaggerated and thus made into its opposite, or such a point is consciously negated. Until now this phenomenon has been known as Mannerism to art historians. What is characteristic of Baroque as the period after High Renaissance Classicism and Mannerism is less clear; in any case, entirely positive aspects of both found their way into Baroque, and undoubtedly the latter is closer to High Re-naissance Classicism in spirit than to Mannerism. Cannot similar things be seen in the last bare decade of architectural develop-ment? The foundations for this book were laid during a good year's re-search at the University of California in Berkeley. The author now holds a chair at the Martin-Luther-Universitat Halle-Wittenberg.

European Sales Law: Challenges in the 21st Century covers more than two decades of EU sales law history. When the project of a full-fledged (optional) EU Sales Law Code failed, the central ideas were taken up in preparing the 2019/770 Digital Content Directive and the 2019/771 Sale of Goods Directive. The digital content part attracted considerably more attention whereas the sales part arguably included the more doctrinal and foundational reform of EU Sales Law, first enshrined in the 1999/44 Directive. This volume focuses on the sales reform. After 20 years, the novelties range from more detailed structures, to completely new phenomena such as goods with digital components, as well as innovative policies like sustainability in the design of contract law. The contributions discuss important aspects of this doctrinal and policy design-oriented reform of EU sales law. The volume also examines the system-building in this renewal and in the challenges ahead, as well as the changes still needed to complete such policy reform. Proposed changes range from a new typology of goods to their modified conformity criteria, and continues with the context of networks of distribution contracts and the remedies all now more related to durability and digital contexts. Finally, the book discusses the radical alternative, i.e. servitisation contracts, which put goods at permanent disposal for sharing.

Der vorliegende Band präsentiert die Beiträge der Tagung zum Thema "Elektronische Wertpapiere", die das Institut für das Recht der Digitalisierung (IRDi) 2021 in Berlin veranstaltete. Das "Gesetz über elektronische Wertpapiere" (eWpG) folgt dem Weg anderer Staaten hin zur Dematerialisierung des Wertpapierrechts, indem es das Erfordernis einer traditionellen Wertpapierurkunde aufgibt und damit einen wesentlichen Beitrag zur Modernisierung und Digitalisierung des deutschen Wertpapierrechts leistet. Ein besonderer Fokus liegt auf den mittels Distributed Ledger-Technologien emittierten sog. Kryptowertpapieren, für die das eWpG einen kodifizierten rechtlichen Rahmen geschaffen hat. Die Verfasser des Tagungsbandes sind Spezialisten aus Wissenschaft und Praxis. Sie unterziehen das eWpG einer kritischen Analyse für praxisgerechte Regulierungen. Der Tagungsband berücksichtigt neben zivil- und aufsichtsrechtlichen Aspekten auch die ökonomischen und internationalen Bezüge.

New Private Law Theory opens a new pathway to private law theory through a pluralistic approach. Such a theory needs a broad and stable foundation, which the authors have built here through a canon of nearly seventy texts of reference. This book brings these different texts from different disciplines into conversation with each other, grouping them around central questions of private law and at the same time integrating them with the legal doctrinal analysis of example cases. This book will be accessible to both experienced and early career scholars working on private law.

In 2012, at the height of the sovereign debt crisis, European decision makers pushed for developing an 'ever closer union' with the formation of a European Banking Union (BU). Although it provoked widespread debate, to date there has been no coherent discussion of the political and constitutional dimensions of the European Banking Union. This important new publication fills this gap. Drawing on the expertise of recognised experts in the field, it explores banking union from legal, economic and political perspectives. It takes a four-part approach. Firstly, it sets the scene by examining the constitutional foundations of banking union. Then in parts 2 and 3, it looks at the implications of banking union for European integration and for democracy. Finally it asks whether banking union might be more usefully regarded as a trade-off between integration and democracy. This is an important, timely and authoritative collection.