Published since May 1, 2005

European Review of Contract Law

ISSN: 1614-9939

Managing Editor: Stefan Grundmann

About this journal

This Journal deals with contract law and serves as a pan-European platform for discussion and analysis. The concept of a European Contract Law is still rather recent: the phrase was first coined in the 1990s. Since the early 2000s when this journal was created, European Contract Law has come to encompass an increasingly comprehensive body of law. There were three driving forces behind this development: the EC harmonisation of laws in the area of the internal market, a generally increased interest in comparative law discussions in contract law, and the European Commission’s Communication on European Contract Law, the Commission’s Action Plan and the Common Frame of Reference process. These developments brought about a changed climate of discussion. The foundations of contract law, examined from many perspectives and in view of various national legal systems and an increasing number of disciplines, are currently being discussed in great detail in the European arena. In 10 years contract law may be the first area of European private law to be regulated in a fully fleshed out European Code.

European Contract Law comprises diverse areas of the law such as sales, standard contract terms, distribution chains, marketing practices, research and development agreements, contract law copyright aspects, financial and investment services contracts, insurance contracts and e-commerce as well as non-discrimination within and beyond labour law and more generally, important aspects of labour contracts and other symbiotic contracts.

The importance and breadth of the field and the methods and questions involved are such that ERCL has established itself as the specialised European journal in this area. Since 2004 the standard of information and discussions on this platform have been consolidated: ERCL discusses the body of law in three sections: articles, case law, and literature on EC Contract Law. This takes place mainly in book reviews and, in addition, contains short sections on the most recent EC legislation, sectoral developments, national developments and other news. The Review focuses on existing law at the EC level and all rules influencing the formation, content and execution of contracts from default rules to regulation, from marketing aspects to the content of contracts, from consumer (and also labour) law to general contract law. The Review is open to a variety of approaches and provides the opportunity to read traditional 'dogmatic' explanations of the upcoming and existing law, assessments through comparative law studies as well as economic analysis and discussions of the philosophical foundations and major structural features. The Review is and has been the site of intense discussion of proposals for codification or, more generally, systemisation and comprehensive development of contract law at the EC level. The European Contract Law Code is too realistic an option and much too important not to be thoroughly discussed as transparently as possible with as many competing ideas and approaches as possible. Several special issues have followed this process in great detail. The journal is meant to help in establishing a functional market of ideas in one of the core areas of private law and one of the most important areas of European private law. ERCL is the journal covering this large body of law and the modern solutions to the problems encountered.

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Supplementary Materials

Topics

Volume 19 Issue 2

June 2023

Publicly Available June 3, 2023

Frontmatter

Page range: i-iii

Download PDF

Articles

Open Access June 2, 2023

Paradigms of Business Consulting Agreements

Michael Denga

Page range: 103-135

More Download PDF

Abstract

Business consulting represents one of the most important activities in the service economy, yet its contractual arrangements have rarely been analysed. Various scandals linked to professional consulting in recent times, such as the accounting scandal surrounding the German DAX-company, Wirecard, or the ‘Luanda Leaks’, give reason for a closer look at this activity, as well as the corresponding contractual agreements. Additionally, the regular functioning of consulting agreements is largely undiscussed. The aim of this contribution is (1) to highlight the essential problems of business consultancy contracts, namely the informational advantage of the consultant with regard to the quality of advice and price; structural conflicts of interest, especially in the case of business consultancy by auditors; the possibilities of abusing consultancy contracts for personal gain, as well as the liability of the consultant and the exemption of management from liability through the use of consultants; and (2) to propose solutions to these problems using the existing rules of due diligence and collateral duties, especially by applying general norms in the light of the economic function of management consultants as brokers for knowledge and know-how.

June 2, 2023

Fixing Reasonable Expectations in European Contract Law

Szymon Osmola

Page range: 136-155

Abstract

The reasonable expectations standard permeates European contract law. An influential objection against reasonable expectations, related to it being formulated as a standard, is its apparent vagueness: it does not sufficiently specify its criteria, and is thus redundant in providing guidance for individuals’ behaviour. This article argues that European contract law clarifies the content of reasonable expectations by identifying different grounds for them – mandatory rules, action-based rules, default rules, indicative rules, industry-related rules and (unregulated) practices – and establishing a relatively structured hierarchy between them. For this reason, the standard of reasonable expectations contributes to effective guidance for the behaviour of subjects of European contract law.

EU Case Law

June 2, 2023

EU Contract Case Law, January–March 2023

Fabrizio Esposito, Lucila Gabriel de Almeida, Roger Barat i Rubio

Page range: 156-175

Abstract

This article provides an overview of the most relevant cases decided by the Court of Justice of the European Union concerning contract law. The present issue covers the period between the beginning of January 2023 and the end of March 2023. Out of a total of 265 judgments decided in this period, 57 had a contract law dimension.

Book Review

June 2, 2023

Eric Tjong Tjin Tai: Tort Law. A Comparative Introduction

Jordi Ribot Igualada

Page range: 176-180

Volume 19 (2023)

Volume 18 (2022)

Volume 17 (2021)

Volume 16 (2020)

Volume 15 (2019)

Volume 14 (2018)

Volume 13 (2017)

Volume 12 (2016)

Volume 11 (2015)

Volume 10 (2014)

Volume 9 (2013)

Volume 8 (2012)

Volume 7 (2011)

Volume 6 (2010)

Volume 5 (2009)

Volume 4 (2008)

Volume 3 (2007)

Volume 2 (2006)

Volume 1 (2005)

European Reference Index for the Humanities

Submit

All contributions must be submitted in the European Review of Contract Law house style. The Editors will be happy to discuss proposed contributions and drafts with contributors.

General

Contributions should be double spaced and with a 2.54 cm (one-inch) margin on both sides of the page. Contributions must be submitted in English, German, or French. They should be accompanied by an abstract in English of 100-150 words in length. German authors should hand in also an abstract in German language, French authors also in French. The length of articles should not exceed 8,000 words, the length of reports (sectoral and national) 5,000 words, the Case Notes 3,000 to 3,500 words including abstract (applicable to articles and reports) and footnotes. No table of contents will be published not even in articles; it therefore is not needed.

Authors should submit their contribution as an attachment to an email addressed to:

schreiter@rewi.hu-berlin.de

The author’s name should appear under the title, and should be asterisked, with the author’s designation - in all contributions - just above the footnotes.

Guidelines Style Sheet
Special Requirements for Case Notes

Hybrid Open Access

In this journal, authors have the option to publish their article under an open access license. Open Access allows you as an author to retain copyright and share your findings with colleagues and interested parties worldwide without any restraints.
Please note that authors from institutions with which we have a transformative agreement can publish open access without paying an article processing charge (APC). More information on the eligible institutions and articles can be found　under the "Funding and Support" tab here.

Editorial

Managing Editor

Prof. Stefan Grundmann, LL.M. (Berkeley), Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (Germany)

Managing Board

Prof. Hugh Collins, London School of Economics and Political Science (London, United Kingdom)
Dr. Mateja Durovic, King’s College London (London, United Kingdom)
Prof. Fernando Gómez Pomar, Universitat Pompeu Fabra (Barcelona, Spain)
Prof. Julie Klein, Paris Sciences Po (Paris, France)
Prof. Jacobien W. Rutgers, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (Amsterdam, The Netherlands)
Prof. Pietro Sirena, Bocconi University (Milan, Italy)

Consulting Board

Prof. Avv. Guido Alpa, Università di Roma La Sapienza (Rome, Italy)
Prof. Esther Arroyo, Universitat de Barcelona (Barcelona, Spain)
Prof. Em. Hugh Gurney Beale, School of Law - University of Warwick (Warwick, United Kingdom)
Prof. Rui Dias, University of Coimbra (Coimbra, Portugal)
Prof. Fabrizio Esposito, Assistant Professor of Private Law, NOVA School of Law (Lisbon, Portugal)
Prof. Muriel Fabre-Magnan, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Paris, France)
Prof. Vincent Forray, Paris Sciences Po (Paris, France)
Prof. Em. Daniel Friedmann, LL.M. (Harvard), The Buchmann Faculty of Law – Tel Aviv University (Tel Aviv, Israel)
Prof. James R. Gordley, Tulane University (New Orleans, United States of America)
Prof. Mateusz Grochowski, LL.M. (Yale), Max-Planck-Institute for Comparative and International Private Law (Hamburg, Germany)
Prof. Aristides Hatzis, National and Kappodistrian University of Athens (Athens, Greece)
Prof. Johnny Herre, Justice at the Swedish Supreme Court (Stockholm, Sweden)
Prof. Christophe Jamin, Paris Sciences Po (Paris, France)Prof. Dr. iur. Antonios Karampatzos, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (Athens, Greece)
Prof. Dorota Leczykiewicz, Associate Professor of Law, Oxford University (Oxford, United Kingdom)
Prof. Margarida　Lima　Rego, NOVA School of Law (Lisbon, Portugal)
Prof. Brigitta Lurger, LL.M. (Harvard), Universität Graz (Graz, Austria)
Prof. Florencia Marotta-Wurgler, New York University School of Law (New York, USA)
Prof. Ugo Mattei, Università degli Studi di Torino (Turin, Italy)
Prof. Denis Mazeaud, Université Panthéon-Assas (Paris, France)
Prof. Francesco Paolo Patti, Bocconi University (Milan, Italy)
Prof. Karl Riesenhuber, M.C.J., Ruhr-Universität Bochum (Bochum, Germany)
Prof. Martin Schauer, Universität Wien (Vienna, Austria)
Prof. Karin Sein, University of Tartu (Tartu, Estonia)
Prof. Em. Lajos Vékás, Eötvös Loránd University (Budapest, Hungary)
Prof. Em. Stephen R. Weatherill, University of Oxford (Oxford, United Kingdom)
Prof. Thomas Wilhelmsson, University of Helsinki (Helsinki, Finland)

(Deutsch)

Online ISSN: 1614-9939
Print ISSN: 1614-9920
Type: Journal
Language: English
Publisher: De Gruyter
First published: May 1, 2005
Publication Frequency: 4 Issues per Year