Unificationof European Private Law from a Comparative Law Basis: Symposium on Comparative Law in Bergen, Norway
Following an invitation of the law faculty of the University of Bergen, four members of the Institute gave presentations on the unification of European private law on a comparative basis.
After greetings by Dean Ernst Nordtveit, Director of the Faculty Eivind Buanes and Professor Helge Thue as representatives of international and comparative private law at the University of Bergen, Reinhard Zimmermann discussed "Comparative Law and the Europeanization of Private Law". He emphasised the European-wide efforts of scholars to unify European private law on a comparative basis. Today, these endeavours, originally commenced with the "Lando- Code", not only address the law of obligations (study groups in Osnabrück, Pavia and Tilburg) but also property law (study group in Osnabrück) and family law (study group in Utrecht). The work done by these groups has been of considerable importance for both the modernisation and new codifications of private law in central and Eastern Europe. By taking into account the work already done on codification of European private law, time-consuming preparatory comparative research is no longer necessary.
Jürgen Basedow's presentation "Towards a Universal Doctrine of Breach of Contract - The Impact of CISG 25 Years after its Adoption" dealt with the rules regarding non-performance as codified 25 years ago in the Convention on the International Sale of Goods (CISG) in 1980. This codification, itself based on decades of preparatory comparative work, has proven quite successful and is on its way to becoming a model for a general set of rules on non-performance applicable to all types of contracts.
In his lecture "Private Law in the U.S. - a Model for Europe?" Ulrich Magnus asked whether US contract law should be followed as a prototype for Europe. In the United States, contract law is not unified but is an area of law reserved for legislation by the individual states. Contract law in the U.S. is only harmonized by the non-binding "uniform laws" such as the Uniform Commercial Code which are applicable throughout the USA with the exception of Louisiana. The speaker considered it possible that a similar harmonization will take place before a formal unification of law by national and supranational legislators. Another possibility was seen as being a European codification of private law which parties can adopt as a legal basis of their relations.
Kurt Siehr spoke under the heading "The Unification and Harmonization of Private International Law in Europe" on the enduring efforts of the European Communities to unify international private law at a European level. Starting with international procedural law in the Brussels Convention of 1968, unification has already advanced to the point that international procedural law is unified to a large extent by six regulations, a unification of international law of obligations is fast-approaching and the work on unification of international family law and law of succession is about to start. Within the next 10 to 20 years the whole complex of international private law and international procedural law of the Member States is likely to be unified.
Finally, Prof. Dr. Peter Gotthardt (University of Greifswald) addressed "The Scandinavian Position - Kinship and Relations in the System of European Legal Families". In his presentation, strongly grounded in legal history, he looked at the particularities of Scandinavian legal systems and their relation to other European families of law on the European continent and in the United Kingdom.
After greetings by Dean Ernst Nordtveit, Director of the Faculty Eivind Buanes and Professor Helge Thue as representatives of international and comparative private law at the University of Bergen, Reinhard Zimmermann discussed "Comparative Law and the Europeanization of Private Law". He emphasised the European-wide efforts of scholars to unify European private law on a comparative basis. Today, these endeavours, originally commenced with the "Lando- Code", not only address the law of obligations (study groups in Osnabrück, Pavia and Tilburg) but also property law (study group in Osnabrück) and family law (study group in Utrecht). The work done by these groups has been of considerable importance for both the modernisation and new codifications of private law in central and Eastern Europe. By taking into account the work already done on codification of European private law, time-consuming preparatory comparative research is no longer necessary.
Jürgen Basedow's presentation "Towards a Universal Doctrine of Breach of Contract - The Impact of CISG 25 Years after its Adoption" dealt with the rules regarding non-performance as codified 25 years ago in the Convention on the International Sale of Goods (CISG) in 1980. This codification, itself based on decades of preparatory comparative work, has proven quite successful and is on its way to becoming a model for a general set of rules on non-performance applicable to all types of contracts.
In his lecture "Private Law in the U.S. - a Model for Europe?" Ulrich Magnus asked whether US contract law should be followed as a prototype for Europe. In the United States, contract law is not unified but is an area of law reserved for legislation by the individual states. Contract law in the U.S. is only harmonized by the non-binding "uniform laws" such as the Uniform Commercial Code which are applicable throughout the USA with the exception of Louisiana. The speaker considered it possible that a similar harmonization will take place before a formal unification of law by national and supranational legislators. Another possibility was seen as being a European codification of private law which parties can adopt as a legal basis of their relations.
Kurt Siehr spoke under the heading "The Unification and Harmonization of Private International Law in Europe" on the enduring efforts of the European Communities to unify international private law at a European level. Starting with international procedural law in the Brussels Convention of 1968, unification has already advanced to the point that international procedural law is unified to a large extent by six regulations, a unification of international law of obligations is fast-approaching and the work on unification of international family law and law of succession is about to start. Within the next 10 to 20 years the whole complex of international private law and international procedural law of the Member States is likely to be unified.
Finally, Prof. Dr. Peter Gotthardt (University of Greifswald) addressed "The Scandinavian Position - Kinship and Relations in the System of European Legal Families". In his presentation, strongly grounded in legal history, he looked at the particularities of Scandinavian legal systems and their relation to other European families of law on the European continent and in the United Kingdom.