European Contract Law and its Interaction with Tort Law and Property Law

Author: Bal
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2007-01-01
Features: This book is a collective achievement of legal scholars from 15 EU member states, the fruit of nine months of collaborative effort. Its purpose is to promote the exchange of opinions and policy-making regarding the substantive issues of the "Common Reference Framework" envisioned by the European Commission and the European Parliament. This framework, in turn, has the potential to play a significant, perhaps even pivotal, role in addressing the problems arising from differences in private law among member states concerning the internal market. We believe that before implementing such measures, it is necessary to first clarify a crucial question: should this unprecedented legal document be limited to contract law, or should it extend to areas adjacent to contract law, such as tort law and property law? To explore the interplay between contract law and tort law, contract law and property law, and their impact on the internal market, the European Commission commissioned this research. How to coordinate and unify the private law systems among EU member states is a fundamental issue for the economic entities of the EU's established member states, concerning the "Four Freedoms" (the free movement of people, goods, services, and capital across borders). In response, the EU's approach is to first establish minimum common standards for private law among member states through regulations or directives, and then gradually move toward a unified European civil code. This book is a significant milestone in such a broader context, serving as an important research outcome. It comprehensively examines the interactive relationships between the current contract law and tort law, as well as between contract law and property law, in the EU member states, using the "Four Freedoms" as a benchmark. In other words, it investigates whether there is disharmony or even conflict between contract law, tort law, and property law within a country and among countries. In this sense, the research conclusions and methodologies of this book also hold significant reference value for the improvement of our private law system. Whether the contract law and tort law, or the contract law and property law, within a country are harmonious, and whether there are normative conflicts or gaps, are issues that must be given high importance when drafting and formulating a civil code. In fact, contract law, tort law, and property law are logically interconnected in their intrinsic value systems and normative frameworks. Therefore, contract law, property law, and tort law are not isolated from one another but form a normative and value-based whole under the general principles of civil law. From the perspective of research methodology and approach, only by interpreting contract law, tort law, and property law holistically can one grasp the full picture of civil law. From a legal theoretical standpoint, this book is also a prime example of the application of the "holistic interpretation" concept of American legal theorist Ronald Dworkin in private law, as well as an excellent empirical illustration of the "self-creating system" legal view as perceived by German legal theorist Gunther Teubner. From the research starting point and conclusions, this book also holds reference value for the formulation of China's civil code. How should China's civil code be constructed? Should it be based on the individual freedom and right-orientation, or on the state will and power-orientation? This is a fundamental choice of stance. If the stance is not clearly defined, not only will contract law and property law fail to serve as safeguards for the fundamental freedoms of individuals, but the entire civil law system may also waver between individual freedom and state intervention in its intrinsic values. From the research conclusions, how to view the interactive relationships between contract law, tort law, and property law—for example, what logical connection exists between the retention of title mechanism in contract law and property law—is an unavoidable issue for China's civil law codification and systematization. It is therefore evident that while the research subject of this book is the private law of EU member states, its research basis, approach, and conclusions are of reference value for China, especially in the context of economic globalization. How China's private law can coordinate and interact with foreign and international private law (such as the "Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods") is of obvious significance. The Chinese version of this book was translated collectively by some faculty and graduate students from Southwest University of Political Science and Law, organized by me.