Questions regarding a European private law harmonisation will also in the future constitute a principal emphasis of the Institute’s work. This is particularly applicable as to European contract law, the law on extra-contractual relationships, insurance contract law, company law and capital market law. These areas of law are relatively rich from a perspective of fundamental comparative law and comparative history research as well as legal harmonisation methodology and are also equally valuable in terms of practical relevance.
 
The comparative analysis of civil law and common law systems continues to be essential foundational research supporting the process of European legal harmonisation.  A conclusion of this process is not foreseeable. This conclusion applies above all to the law of obligations. For the harmonisation of private law in Europe, the differences between these two legal systems - which have developed separate from one another over an extended period of time – represents a particular hurdle. A historic-comparative starting point offers, in the first instance, a position from which to ascertain common origins in various legal institutions that presently appear to be different; it is also suited to examine the question to what extent the earlier common European jurisprudence can serve as a model for a future European legal harmonisation.
 
Concurrently, the harmonisation of international private law in Europe will continue to be academically accompanied by the Institute.
 
It is expected that the Institute’s future bilateral collaborations will be extended to the region of the former Yugoslavia – without however a sudden conclusion to the current activities on Bulgarian and Romanian law.
 
In addition to a focus on the European Union, research on the fundamental competition requirements for international commerce will need to consider the transatlantic relationship between Europe and the USA as well as, among others, the relationship among regional supranational unions.
 
The significance of legal modernisation in Islamic countries extends far beyond the acute problems in developing legal and judicial institutions within Afghanistan; rather, it is a theme that concerns all legal systems shaped under Islamic law.  Newly built contacts with scholars from Islamic nations, those of the Maghreb included among, create a basis for comparative law study on how these countries are attempting to meet the demands of reform.
 
The research emphasis on East Asia will continue for the foreseeable future in light of the region’s economic and political significance and its rapid legal development, particularly in China.  And moreover, the further cultivation of the worldwide comparative law analysis spanning beyond the West European – North Atlantic Context shall continue to be cultivated.

• Last update: 30 Jun. 2011
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