The Project
 
Working under the guidance of Prof. Ulrich Drobnig, a group of young researchers hailing from a number of European nations have been working since 2000 on Personal and Proprietary Security in the Member States of the European Union.  Through the utilization of comparative law analysis the project is developing model provisions that may serve as a foundation for a future European harmonization.  The working group and its research undertaken at the Institute form part of the international research project Study Group on a European Civil Code.
 
The field of study being undertaken by the working group comprises personal securities, such as suretyship and (independent) guarantee and also security in movable property, e.g. pledge, security transfer of title and retention of title; in accordance with the objectives of the Study Group on a European Civil Code, security in immovable property is not being considered on account of wide national divergences. It should be noted that there is also another working group at the Institute forming part of the Study Group, the European Insurance Contract Law Group led by Prof. Jürgen Basedow.
 
The Members
 
As an established expert in the field of harmonisation and the international private law of credit security, the group is being led by Professor Dr. Ulrich Drobnig who has previously participated in the development of the Principles of European Contract Law and who assumes responsibility for conveying the group’s research results to the other members of the Study Group on a European Civil Code.  The additional group members are junior legal scholars from a variety of EU Member States who owing to their nationality or previous research experience represent the individual national legal systems under consideration.  Institute study group participants carry responsibility for the following jurisdictions:
 
Ole Böger, LL.M. (London) –  England, Ireland and Scotland
Dr. Francesca Fiorentini – Italy, Spain and Portugal
Judith Hauck, LL.M. (Munich) – France, Belgium and Luxemburg
Dr. Malene Stein Poulsen, LL.M. (Osnabrück) – Denmark, Finland, Sweden

The group is supported by Renate Gross, serving as administrative assistant to Prof. Dr. Drobnig.
 
The Working Group in the Context of the Study Group on a European Civil Code
 
The working group on personal and proprietary security is part of the research team Study Group on a European Civil Code whose goal is to develop the principles for a common European private law complete with short commentary and notes reflecting the existing national regulations.  A coordinating group consisting of approximately 30 researchers from all Member States of the European Union, including Prof. Drobnig, discusses the results of the individual working groups and ultimately develops recommendations.  Proposals of the individual working groups that are approved by a majority of the members of the coordinating group are finalized; otherwise they are returned to the working groups with input and suggestions and are subject to further revision.
 
External advisors serve in a support role for all of the working groups.  The advisory group for the working group on credit security is composed of the following individuals:
Hugh Beale (Law Commission for England and Wales, London), Michael Bridge (University College London), Pierre Crocq (Universite Pantheon-Assas, Paris), Torgny Håstad (Högsta Domstolen, Stockholm), Angel Carrasco Perera (Universidad de Castilla la Mancha, Toledo), Matthias Storme (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven), Anna Veneziano (Universita di Teramo), Frederyk Zoll (Jagiellonen-Universität Krakau). An earlier member of the advisory group was Sir Roy Goode (St John's College, Oxford).
 
The Approach of the Working Group
 
The Hamburg working group provides the coordinating committee with recommendations based upon comparative law research.  The work on personal securities has been completed and is now available in an English language volume. 

Principles of European Law on Personal Security (PEL Pers. Sec.)
Prepared by Ulrich Drobnig
Sellier Publishers, Munich, 2007, 567 pages

Further individual areas considered by the Study Group on a European Civil Code will in turn be published in the series "Principles of European Law", Sellier Publishers, and serve to supplement and expand upon the existing Principles of European Contract Law.  At present the Hamburg working group has commenced its work on security in movable property.
 
The goal of the working group’s research is in each case the formulation of a harmonized body of principles - these rules lie at the heart of subsequent textual proposals.  The abstract rules are supplemented with clarifying and illustrative comments designed to answer the subsequent questions of „practitioners“ and facilitate their interpretation. The rules are also supplemented with national notes which serve to present the various national legal rules of statutory and case law inclusive of their respective applications in actual practice.
 
In each instance, the work begins with an overview developed by Prof. Drobnig prepared in collaboration with group members covering a broad spectrum of the rules under consideration and those aspects requiring consideration.  Additionally, group members prepare country reports on the status of the law in the legal systems within their respective spheres of responsibility.  These reports are then discussed in meetings of the entire working group and are amended and expanded upon consistent with the information needs of the group members not having an in-depth knowledge of the particular legal system under consideration.
 
Thus, the process avoids from the very onset narrowing the perspective from which each legal system is considered.  Based upon the country reports Prof. Drobnig devises a first draft of the principles whose structure resembles statutory provisions.  These are once again and often many times discussed in the group and their correspondence or deviation from the various individual jurisdictions is examined with reference to the country reports. 
 
As soon as the principles have achieved a certain degree of finality, they are supplemented with comments from Prof. Drobnig.  The remaining group members prepare national notes – an effort that represents a focal point of the group’s work.  With an eye towards an integrated harmonization, the national notes attempt to give an overview on similarities and divergences between the different national legal systems.  In the process, the members of the group act as editors for the individual articles of the rules.  Namely, they sift through the national materials collected by the other members of the working group and distill national notes from this information.  The comments and national notes are ultimately evaluated in the working group and amended further as necessary.  
 
The final draft, after having been distributed to the advisors, is discussed at a yearly meeting of the working group and the advisory group.  The incorporation of external experts who are not involved in the preparation of the proposals insures the doctrinal and logical coherence of the principles as well as the due consideration of aspects of policy and allows the perspective of the work to be extended to even more jurisdictions.  Finally, the draft proposals are distributed to the coordinating group. Along with consideration of the content, further editorial tasks need to be completed: the style and format must correspond as closely as possible to the proposals of the other working groups; additionally, terminology must have a consistent and uniform usage in respect of the provisions of the Principles of European Contract Law and the work of other groups.
 
Finance
 
The work of the Study Group on a European Civil Code is in its present phase primarily funded by a grant of the EU which is being conferred under the auspices of the 6th European Research Program.  Additionally, the Institute is assuming responsibility for the costs of one group member.