European Contract Law(s) of What Colour?

Abstract

European contract law has continuously developed over the last 25 years and it is a good moment to reflect on existing and future European contract law. The author argues that the current set of conflict rules provides for an equilibrium between party autonomy and necessary safeguards, but, in a future Code, these provisions can be designed more systematically. For substantive contract law, he argues that until 1999, EC Contract Law was mainly regulatory and not facilitative law. It focused on levelling out information asymmetries and was thus neither neo-liberal in approach nor heavily interventionist. With the Sales Directive of 1999, facilitative contract law also entered the scene. A fully fledged Code seems feasible now. It should be based on the acquis communautaire, should be optional (also in purely domestic cases), and modern, developing a design well beyond traditional Codes, dealing also with the host of new problems and solutions.

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