Legal Innovation in European Contract Law: Within and Beyond the (Draft) Common Frame of Reference

AFTER THE COMMON FRAME OF REFERENCE - WHAT FUTURE FOR EUROPEAN PRIVATE LAW?, W. Micklitz, F. Cafaggi, eds., Forthcoming

30 Pages Posted: 31 Mar 2009

See all articles by Florian Möslein

Florian Möslein

Universität Marburg (Institut für Handels- und Wirtschaftsrecht); Munich Center on Governance (MCG); European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI)

Date Written: March 29, 2009

Abstract

The Europeanization of contract law has continuously developed over the past 25 years. It is now at a defining stage, with the Draft Common Frame of Reference (DCFR) recently being published. This article is not primarily concerned with the substance of this instrument, but with the process of legal innovation it might trigger. The hypothesis is that the adoption of such a rulebook will have a significant impact on the future development of European contract law. Yet the nature and likely effects of such impact are difficult to predict, given that functions, elements and purposes of the new instrument still need to be identified and defined. In any event, the DCFR will modify the pattern of future legal change in European contract law. The crucial question is: Will it provide a dynamic framework for legal innovation?

Keywords: Legal Innovation, European Contract Law, Common Frame of Reference, European Civil Code, Costs of Lawmaking, Stickiness of Virtual Defaults, Multi-Layered System of Contract Laws

JEL Classification: K12

Suggested Citation

Möslein, Florian and Möslein, Florian, Legal Innovation in European Contract Law: Within and Beyond the (Draft) Common Frame of Reference (March 29, 2009). AFTER THE COMMON FRAME OF REFERENCE - WHAT FUTURE FOR EUROPEAN PRIVATE LAW?, W. Micklitz, F. Cafaggi, eds., Forthcoming , Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1369990 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1369990

Florian Möslein (Contact Author)

Universität Marburg (Institut für Handels- und Wirtschaftsrecht) ( email )

Savignyhaus
Universitätsstraße 6
Marburg, 35032
Germany

HOME PAGE: http://www.uni-marburg.de/fb01/lehrstuehle/zivilrecht/moeslein

Munich Center on Governance (MCG) ( email )

Geschwister-Scholl-Platz 1
Munich, DE Bavaria 80539
Germany

HOME PAGE: http://www.mcg.uni-muenchen.de

European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI) ( email )

c/o the Royal Academies of Belgium
Rue Ducale 1 Hertogsstraat
1000 Brussels
Belgium

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
343
Abstract Views
2,022
Rank
160,306
PlumX Metrics