European Private Law - Survey 1998-2000

Abstract

From its conception, the European Review of Private Law has tried, sometimes in vain, to publish Chronicles (‘Chroniques’) or Surveys of the main areas of private law: Contract, Inheritance, Property, Tort, etc. The idea of these Chronicles or Surveys is that, within a specific area of private law, they set out what is happening on the community level and on the national level in the various member states. What so far has been lacking, is a survey of what is going on in European private law in general. This Survey aims at filling this gap, or rather a part of that gap in that it will only cover developments insofar as these have been dealt with in publications. It will first mention some recent directives or draft directives (No. 2) and their alternatives: Principles or Restatements (No. 3), insofar as these have been dealt with in books and law review articles. It will then turn to case law of the European Court of Justice (No. 4), and of national courts (No. 5), once again insofar as these have attracted the attention in legal writing. Finally, and there the emphasis will be, it will turn to recent books and articles on European private law, first of all on a European (No. 6) and a regional (No. 7) level, and then as to specific areas (No. 8) and issues (No. 9). It will end with some conclusions (No. 10).