Cafaggi, Fabrizio; Muir Watt, Horatia --- "Making European Private Law" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2008) [2008] ELECD 184

Editor(s): Cafaggi, Fabrizio; Muir Watt, Horatia

Title: Making European Private Law

Sub-title: Governance Design

Topics: European Law

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

Date of Publication: 30 April 2008

Number of pages: 368

ISBN (hard cover): 9781847201980

ISBN (soft cover): 9780857930033

EISBN: 9781848441279

Abstract/Description:

The debate concerning the desirability and modes of harmonisation of European Private Law (EPL) has, until now, been mainly concerned with substantive rules. The link between rules and institutions suggests that governance of both the process of harmonisation and its outcome is necessary. This book covers various perspectives on the challenge of designing governance for EPL: the implications of a multi-level system in terms of competences, the interplay between market integration and regulation, the legitimacy of private law making, the importance of self-regulation, the usefulness of conflict of law rules, the role of intergovernmental institutions, and the aftermath of enlargement. In addressing these, the book’s achievements are to successfully link two areas of scholarship that have so far remained separate, EPL and new modes of governance, and to address institutional reforms. The contributions offer different proposals to improve governance: the creation of a European Law institute, the improvement of judicial cooperation among national courts, the use of committees for implementation of EPL.

Suggesting practical institutional reforms that can improve the process of Europeanisation of private law, this book will be of great interest to scholars of law, politics, political science, sociology and economics. It will also appeal to policymakers, and members of both European institutions and national institutions dealing with European matters.