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.
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Stefan Grundmann is Professor of Transnational Law and Theory at the European University Institute, Florence, Italy, and Professor of Private and Business Law at Humboldt-University, Berlin, Germany.
Mateusz Grochowski is a Senior Research Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law, Hamburg, Germany, Assistant Professor at the Institute of Law Studies of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, and Fellow at the Information Society Project, Yale Law School, United States.
The Creation of Norms: An Evolutionary View on European Contract Law (p. 1)
Good Faith as Contract’s Core Value (p. 45)
The Rule of Law and the Charter of Fundamental Rights as a Source of European Private Law (p. 73)
The Polish Civil Law Codification Commission Working on the Draft of the New Civil Code (p. 97)
Types of Contracts and Law’s Autonomy-Enhancing Role (p. 107)
Legislative Options for Regulating Optional Rules (p. 127)
A Private International Law Perspective on the Creation of Norms and Transnational Governance (p. 149)
Ambiguities of Self-Regulation: Some Illustrative Examples of ‘Good’ Companies’ Certification (p. 173)
Contract Law under Regulatory Siege – Revival of Contract Law? Standardisation, Regulation and Consent (p. 199)
Default Rules Beyond a State: Special-Purpose Lawmakers in the Platform Economy (p. 227)
European Contract Law in the EU Court of Justice’s Case Law (p. 253)
Potential and Hurdles for the CJEU’s Jurisprudence in Domestic Legal Orders: A Polish Case Study (p. 269)
The Society of European Contract Law (SECOLA) promotes the development and understanding of European contract law including its economic, sociological and intellectual historic relation in theory and in practice. Further, SECOLA provides an international platform for the discussion of developing and proposed contract law in Europe.
In this spirit, the book series European Contract Law and Theory (EUCOLATH) combines dogmatic thinking in comparative and EU law with strong social theory considerations and makes the results of the discussions of leading scholars and practitioners publicly available.
Editorial Board
Prof. Dr iur. Dr phil. Stefan Grundmann, LLM (Berkeley)
Professor of Private, Commercial and International Law at Humboldt-University, Berlin, and Professor of Transnational Law and Theory at the European University Institute, Florence (part-time)
Prof. Hugh Collins
Cassel Professor of Commercial Law at the London School of Economics, London, and Fellow of the British Academy
Prof. Dr Fernando Gómez Pomar
Professor of Civil Law and Law and Economics at Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona
Prof. Jacobien Rutgers
Professor in Private Law and Private International Law at the Free University (VU) Amsterdam
Prof. Dr Pietro Sirena
Professor of Private Law at Bocconi University, Milan
