Exploring the advantages and disadvantages of codifying contract law, this book considers the question from the perspectives of both civil and common law systems, referring in detail to issues of international and consumer law. With contributions from leading international scholars, the chapters present a range of opinions on the virtues of codification, encouraging further debate on this topic. The book commences with a discussion on the internationalization imperative for codification of contract law. It then turns to regional issues, exploring first codification attempts in the European Union and Japan, and then issues relevant to codification in the common law jurisdictions of Australia, New Zealand and the United States. The collection concludes with two chapters which consider the need to draw upon both private and comparative international law perspectives to inform any codification reforms. This book will be of interest to international and comparative contract law academics, as well as regulators and policy-makers.

Advanced notion of the Creeping Codification which is based on the 'TransLex Principles', operated by the Center for Transnational Law (CENTRAL) of Cologne University at www.trans-lex.org. The Trans- Lex Principles are based on the 'List of Principles, Rules and Standards of the Lex Mercatoria' which was reproduced in the Annex of the first edition of this book. This Internet-based codification method realized through the TransLex Principles corresponds to the unique character of the Creeping Codification of the New Lex Mercatoria which is an ongoing, spontaneous, and dynamic process which is never completed.

General clauses or standards (Generalklauseln, clauses generales) are legal rules which are not precisely formulated, terms and concepts which in fact do not even have a clear core. They are often applied in varying degrees in various legal systems to a rather wide range of contract cases when certain issues arise issues such as abuse of rights, unfairness, good faith, fairness of duty or loyalty or honesty, duty of care, and other such contract terms not lending themselves readily to clear or permanent definition. Here for the first time is a systematic discussion of this kind of rule in the evolving and dynamic context of European contract law. A collection of twelve insightful essays by leading European law authorities, the book is based on a conference organized jointly by the Society of European Contract Law (SECOLA) and l'association Henri Capitant, held in the `grande salle' of the French Supreme Court in Paris in 2005. The subject is approached along three distinct but interconnected avenues: comparative contract law, in which the different models to be found among Member States particularly the Germanic, French, and English common law systems are explored with an eye to differences and common ground;EC contract law, in which the general clause approach has tended to focus on labour law and consumer law, and in which the European Court of Justice more and more assumes the final say; andthe European codification dimension, in which a potential instrument on the European level would compete with national laws and develop closely with them. The authors demonstrate that a focus on general clauses in contract law, embracing as it does a wide range of types of contracts, helps enormously with the necessary integration of legal scholarship and economic approaches, and of legal science and legal practice in the field. Numerous analytic references to relevant cases and EC Directives give a practical impetus to the far-reaching but immediately applicable theory presented in this important book. As European contract law continues to develop rapidly, this seminal contribution is sure to increase in value and usefulness.

No aspect of legal formalism has interested comparative jurists as much as the extent of legislative codification across legal systems. This book looks at codification from a broad, international perspective, discussing general themes as well as various legal fields. The first of two volumes on this subject begins with a general theoretical and historical view of codification, followed by a series of other horizontal inquiries. It encompasses papers focusing on several significant contemporary issues in codification, including "codification of private law in post-soviet times", "criminal law codification beyond the nation state" and "soft codification of private law". In addition, this volume consists of general reports and national reports on administrative procedure and human rights, providing a comparative analysis of codification of law. This book is developed from papers presented at the 2012 Thematic Congress of the International Academy of Comparative Law.

The nineteen outstanding contributors to this deeply insightful book concur in envisioning a fundamentally new systematic concept of contract law that, while preserving the essential and‘architectureand’ of the existing European codes, would nonetheless find cogent ways to integrate such modern developments as mass transactions, chains and networks of contracts, regulation of markets and contracts to protect consumers, and service and long-term contracts into an optional European code. The book is organised along three major avenues: and• the systematic arrangement of a contract law code - how it deals with core questions of formation and performance or breach of contract, such as mistake and misrepresentation, standard contract terms, and remedies in the case of breach of contract; and• the apparent necessity to merge consumer contract law (i.e. such issues as product safety and liability, warranties, and consumer debt and insolvency) with traditional core contract law concepts; and and• the importance to substantive contract law of the pre-contractual phase, in which information duties are becoming steadily more paramount. The authors perspectives cover a wide range of jurisdictions, including new EU Member States. The bookand’s commitment to an integration of comparative law, EC law, and the debate on European codification offers practitioners and academics fertile ground for the development of a new model of contract law that is more than a common denominator of what has been in force so far. This model may serve as a basis for Europe-wide and perhaps even worldwide discussion.

"The book is a comparative study of the choice-of-law codifications and convenƯ tions adopted in each of the inhabited continents in the last so years. Its main purpose is to document and inform rather than to critique. Although I do not always hide my opinion, I continue to act on the conviction that what we can learn from legislators is far more important than what they can learn from us" -- PREFACE.