Italian Private Law provides an excellent overview and analysis of Italian private law and its transition from the early twentieth century legal tradition to a system based on constitutional values, geared towards European integration. Exploring the eclectic yet systematically solid foundations of Italian private law, which has adapted itself to the ever growing pressure of EU legislation, Alpa and Zenovich look at the legislative system as well as the profound influence of case-law and legal scholarship. It examines: family law succession legal persons businesses and companies property law contract law tort law. This volume is a key resource for legal scholars, practitioners and students who want to gain a deeper knowledge of Italian private law in their research, professional or academic activity.

To provide valuable legal service to persons in today's Europe, practitioners must be conversant in both national and transnational law. At the European level, the Principles of European Contract Law (PECL) are an increasingly important element of contract law, together with national contract law, as contained in Civil Codes and various national statute. Accordingly, Kluwer Law International has initiated a series of volumes, under the direction of prof. Hondius of the University of Utrecht, comparing PECL with the most important European legal systems. This volume on Italian law is the second in the series. Using a straightforward comparative method, the editors¿ analysis not only reveals a significant area of convergence between the PECL and Italian contract law, but also highlights the main differences between the two bodies of rules. The reasons for these differences, both legal and non-legal (such as historical, social, economic), are clearly set forth. The book provides complete texts, with annotations, of the PECL and the corresponding Italian rules. The presentation proceeds as follows: general provisions (scope of application, general duties, terminology)formation of contracts (general provisions, offer and acceptance, liability for negotiations)authority of agents (general provisions, direct and indirect representation)validityinterpretationcontents and effectsperformancenon-performance and remedies in generalparticular remedies for non-performance (right to performance, withholding performance, termination of the contract, price reduction, damages and interest) The editors commentary includes extensive reference to case law and legal doctrine at all essential points. In this way they provide a comprehensive description of the law in action as well as its evolving trends. In addition, incisive essays by two leading experts in the field of comparative law, prof. Rodolfo Sacco and prof. Michael Joachim Bonell, analyse the relationship of the PECL and Italian law and its wider framework in the harmonisation of private law at the European and international levels. The book is a valuable handbook and guide for both foreign and Italian lawyers. For non-Italian lawyers, be they practitioners or academics, it provides a concise but complete and up-to-date outline of current Italian contract law, organized on the basis of a system (PECL) with which many European lawyers are familiar. For Italian lawyers, it offers a clearer insight into a wider European legal contract system whose importance in the evolution of a common European private law is growing rapidly. Principles of European Contract Law Series 2

This volume tests the claim that, as combinations of Civil and Common Law influences, the mixed systems of contract law in Scotland and South Africa have anticipated the content of the Principles of European Contract Law (PECL) concluded and published in 2003 by the unofficial Commission on European Contract Law. Going further, it rigorously explores what the implications of a Europe-wide contract law would be. The current official moves towards a European contract law within the European Union make the critiques of PECL in this volume especially urgent and significant. With a European contract law nearer to reality than ever before, mere policy critiques are no longer enough. This book provides the essential technical and substantive assessments of PECL from the perspective of Scots and South African contract lawyers, and is offered to the European debate without prejudice as to the deeper policy questions. At the same time, this volume will inform Scots and South African lawyers about the substance of international developments in the field, and suggest ways to develop their still vigorous and vital national laws to remain in step with the needs of the present day.

In this volume, the Study Group and the Acquis Group present the first academic Draft of a Common Frame of Reference (DCFR). The Draft is based in part on a revised version of the Principles of European Contract Law (PECL) and contains Principles, Definitions and Model Rules of European Private Law in an interim outline edition. It covers the books on contracts and other juridical acts, obligations and corresponding rights, certain specific contracts, and non-contractual obligations. One purpose of the text is to provide material for a possible "political" Common Frame of Reference (CFR) which was called for by the European Commission's Action Plan on a More Coherent European Contract Law of January 2003.