One of the most topical questions in the legal systems is whether and to what extent fundamental rights impact our rights and obligations in our contractual relations. The European Union has integrated the Charter of Fundamental Rights into the Treaties of Rome and Lisbon. This book highlights whether and to what extent fundamental rights affect the position of citizens generally and in various fields of law, such as private (contractual) law, labour law,financial services, intellectual property rights, and the judicial protection in courts.

This publication aims at establishing a clear analysis of the nature and growth of the C-factor (C for constitutionalisation) in Germany, France, the UK and The Netherlands.

'Does European regulatory private law offer a genuine model of justice for society? Beyond its initial libertarian focus on economic integration through the market citizen, might it now serve the social inclusion of the vulnerable? In the wake of Hans Micklitz's inspired and relentless pursuit of meaning within the ongoing constitutionalization of private law relationships, this rich collection explores the implications of new, specifically European, forms of access rights, which ensure (horizontally and vertically) enforceable and non-discriminatory opportunity for market participation.' Horatia Muir Watt, Columbia Law School, US This insightful book, with contributions from leading international scholars, examines the European model of social justice in private law that has developed over the 20th century. The first set of articles is devoted to the relationship between corrective, commutative, procedural and social justice, more particularly the role and function of commutative justice in contrast to social justice. The second section brings together scholars who discuss the relationship between constitutional order, the values enshrined in the constitutional order and the impact of constitutional values on private law relations. The third section focuses on the impact of socio-economic developments within the EU and within selected Member States on the proprietary order of the EU, on the role and function of the emerging welfare state and the judiciary, as well as on nation state specific patterns of social justice. The final section tests the hypothesis to what extent patterns of social justice are context related and differ in between labour, consumer and competition law. The Many Concepts of Social Justice in European Private Law will prove to be of great interest to academics of law, as well as to private lawyers and European policymakers.

"This volume is a collection of the papers presented at the first ('kick-off') meeting in ... Dornburg, near Jena (Germany), 26-28 May 2005."--Foreword.

New Private Law Theory is pluralist, comparative, application-oriented, transnational and reflects critical approaches.

In recent years the impact of human rights and fundamental rights on private law has risen in prominence and led to a whole series of detailed investigations. 'Constitutionalization of private law' is the flag under which most of the research on the increasing impact of national constitutional rights on national private legal orders is sailing. In the absence of a European Constitution, the constitutionalization of European private law suggests a process: constitutionalization instead of constituent power, demos, and the magic constitutional moment. The Charter of Fundamental Rights and the European Convention of Human Rights constitute the two pillars on which the transformation of European private law rests. This volume clearly demonstrates the change that has taken place, at the national and at the European level. Private law is no longer immune to the intrusion of fundamental and human rights. Whilst member states and the EU are driving the process by adopting ever more concrete and more comprehensive lists of human and fundamental rights, at the national, the European, and international level with overlapping contents, the true and key players in this development are the national and European courts. Contributions to this volume give this process a face and a direction, which is highlighted in the introduction by Hans-W. Micklitz.

European constitutionalisation has met with scepticism - this book analyses the steps necessary to move to EU's 'Second Constitution'.