The Common Frame of Reference on European Contract Law in the Context of English and German Law
On 18 April 2008, the Council of the European Union endorsed the creation of a Common Frame of Reference on European Contract Law (CFR). The CFR is a set of definitions, general principles and model rules in the field of contract law. It is primarily intended as a tool for better lawmaking, which should guide the legislator. It can also be used in the form of directly applicable rules in the form of an optional contract law which can be chosen by the parties. On the long run, it might even serve as the basis of a future European Civil Code.
The Principal Investigator was involved in the formulation of a Draft Common Frame of Reference (DCFR), published in 2009 shortly after the commencement of the present research project. The DCFR served as basis for a Feasibility Study on an optional European contract law, which was published in May 2011 and compiled by an Expert Group, which had been set up by the European Commission. In October 2011, the Commission presented a proposal for a Regulation to establish a Common European Sales Law
The present research project looks at the relationship between the DCFR or the proposed regulation on the one hand, and the laws of EU member states on the other, as exemplified by German and English law. It will look at how these rules will interact with the legal environment in which they are to operate. Regulation rules will have to dovetail with domestic rules on contract law outside of its scope, and also with domestic property, tort and unjust enrichment law. They will have to work in the context of different procedural laws. Both DCFR and Regulation will also serve as a yardstick for legislative and judge made contract law reform in the Member States, and will influence the interpretation of domestic contract rules.
The project gives particular emphasis to the use of the Regulation as an optional contract law. This would allow e.g. consumers to choose CFR based rules for their electronic distance sales contract with a business. The project investigates the wide-ranging repercussions this will have on other rules e.g. on jurisdiction, choice of law, property law, and for collective proceedings for the control of standard terms.
Financer
DFG: Sachbeihilfe
Duration of project
Start date: 09/2009
End date: 08/2012
Publications
In Buchform
