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Norbert Reich
Faculty of Law, Bremen University Former Rector, Riga Graduate School of Law "In Search of a 'European Contract Law' and its Implications for Eastern Europe" Tuesday, 15 November 2005 12:00 p.m. 7200 Law School (Lubar Commons) Norbert Reich will give a second talk on 16 November (time and location TBA) on "'Old' vs. 'New' Europe: Social stability vs. labour mobility" Sponsored by the UW-Madison's EU Center of Excellence Institute for Legal Studies (ILS) Center for Russia, East Europe and Central Asia (CREECA) Global Legal Studies Initiative (GLSI) Wisconsin Project on Governance and Regulation (WISGAR) and the Wisconsin Contracts Group
Abstract: The development of European contract law has been a "hodge-podge" of three different trends: (1) Community harmonisation in certain areas of contract law by directives and case law on consumer protection, anti-discrimination, procurement and to a small extent commercial contracts (the so-called acquis)! (2) Commission initiatives to codify (?), restate (?), build (?) a "European contract law", the last concerned with creating a so-called "common frame of reference" (CFR in eurospeak!) (3) Codification of contract law by new Member States in order to "de-socialise" private law and meet requirements of market economy as enshrined in EU law. There have been "spill-overs" even to the Russian Civil Code. While new Member States had to take over the existing body of of EU Law (acquis), they choose different forms of implementation, thus giving raise to a surprising amount of diversity. There is still no conceptual clarity, even less theoretical reflection on how to combine these three different trends. The paper will make proposals for a "multi-level" decentralised approach which meets requirements of EU integration and extension better than any attempt at a centralised solution.
Norbert Reich is a professor of law and the former Rector of the Riga Graduate School of Law in Latvia. Previously he was professor of Civil, Commercial and European Law the University of Bremen in Germany where he also has served as Dean of the Law School. He was the Managing director of Aufbaustudium Europarecht from 1997-2001, and served as an Editor of the Journal of Consumer Policy from 1975 until 2000. He also has served as the President of the International Academy of Consumer and Commercial Law (2000-02) and the European Law Faculties Association (2000-02). He has been the President (since 1986) of the Consumer Advisory Council, Senate Office (Ministry) of Economics, State of Hamburg and has been adviser to the European Commission, German Bundestag, BEUC and several States on many issues relating to European Law. Hosted by Professor David Trubek, Professor of Law |