The project of harmonizing European tort law

Common Market Law Review

Volumn 42, Issue 5, 2005, Pages 1269-1312

  Wagner, Gerhard ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF BONN   (Germany)

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EID: 33847416494     PISSN: 01650750     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Review

References (120)

1. European Group on Tort Law, Principles of European Tort Law, 2005; the Principles are included in Annexe 1 ; another set of Principles of "Non-Contractual Liability out of Damage Caused to Another" is currently under preparation by the Working Team on Extra-Contractual Obligations of the Study Group on a European Civil Code (Chairman Christian von Bar), available on www.sgecc.net
2. Cf. Wagner, "The Economics of Harmonization: The Case of Contract Law", 39 CML Rev. (2002), 995;
3. Wagner, in Smits (Ed.), The Need for a European Contract Law (Europa Law Publishing, 2005), p. 1 et seq.; and the other contributions in this volume by Helmut Wagner, Jaap Hage, Heico Kerkmeester, Jeff Rachlinski, Thomas Wilhelmsson, and Jan Smits.
4. Cf. Recital 3 to the European Parliament and Council Directive on the sale of consumer goods and associated guarantees, O.J. 1999, L 171/ 12: "The laws of the member States concerning the sale of consumer goods are somewhat disparate, with the result that national consumer goods markets differ from one another and that competition between sellers may be distorted' (emphasis added).
5. Cf. "Editorial Comments: On the Way to a European Consumer Sales Law?", 34 CML Rev. (1997) 207, 209;
6. Wagner, op. cit. supra note 2 (2002), 1004 et seq.
7. European Commission, Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and the Council on the law applicable to non-contractual obligations ("Rome II"), COM(2003)427 final.
8. Communication from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament on European contract law, O.J. 2001, C 255/5 et seq., para 31 et seq.
9. Wagner, op. cit. supra note 2 (2002), 1004 et seq., 1013 et seq.;
10. Lando, "Optional or Mandatory Europeanisation of Contract Law", (2000) European Review of Private Law, 59, 61.
11. Council Directive 85/374/EEC on the Approximation of the Laws, Regulations and Administrative Provisions of the Member States Concerning Liability for Defective Products of 25.7.1985, O.J. 1985, L 210/29.
12. Case C-52/00, Commission v. France, [2002] ECR 1-3827 para 13 et seq.;
13. Case C-154/ 00, Commission v. Greece, [2002] ECR 1-3879, para 9 et seq.;
14. Case C-183/00, González Sánchez v. Medicina Asturiana SA, [2002] ECR 1-3901 para 23 seq.
15. González Sánchez, supra note 10, para 31.
16. Commission Proposal ("Rome II"), supra note 5, p. 13.
17. Von Bar and Drobnig, The Interaction of Contract Law and Tort and Property Law in Europe, (Sellier, 2004), no. 702, echoing a famous dictum by Leo Raape;
18. cf. Raape and Sturm, Internationales Privatrecht, Vol. I, 6th ed. (1977), p. 199.
19. Legrand, 60 MLR (1997), 44, 49 et seq.; a similar version of this paper written in French was published under the title "Sens et non-sens d'un code civil Européen", (1996) R.I.D.C., 779, 780 et seq., 789 et seq.
20. Ibid. 44, 53 seq.; cf. also R.I.D.C. 779, 798 seq.
21. Legrand, "The Impossibility of 'Legal Transplants'", 4 MJ (1997), 111, 210.
22. Legrand, op. cit. supra note 13 (MLR) 44, 52; R.I.D.C., 779, 781.
23. Legrand, op. cit. supra note 13 (MLR) 44, 56, emphasis in original.
24. Lequette, (2002) Dalloz, 2202;
25. for a much more balanced approach along the same lines Fauvarque-Cosson, "Faut-il un Code civil européen?", (2002) RTDciv. 2002, 463.
26. Lequette, (2002) Dalloz, 2202, 2207, 2211 et seq. note 74.
27. Canivet and Muir Watt, "Européanisation du droit privé et justice sociale", ZEuP 2005, 517.
28. For details cf. Zweigert and Kötz, Einführung in die Rechtsvergleichung, 3rd ed. (Mohr, 1996), p. 102 et seq.
29. Zweigert and Kötz, op. cit. supra note 21, p. 106.
30. Montesquieu, De l'esprit des lois, Vol. 1 (1748), book 11, ch. 6, p. 305.
31. This is the powerful theme in van Caenegem, European Law in the Past and the Future (Cambridge UP, 2002), p. 1 et seq.
32. For details see Franz Wieacker, Privatrechtsgeschichte der Neuzeit, 2nd ed. (1967), p. 124 et seq;
33. English translation by Tony Weir, A History of Private Law in Europe (OUP, 1995), p. 91 et seq.
34. Watson, "Legal Transplants and European Private Law", 4.4 Electronic Journal of Comparative Law (December 2000), law.kub.nl./ejcl/44/44-2.html
35. Wagner, "Grundstrukturen des Europäischen Deliktsrechts", in Zimmermann (Ed.), Grundstrukturen des Europäischen Deliktsrechts (Nomos, 2003), pp. 189, 281 et seq.
36. Cambridge Water Co. v. Eastern Counties Leather Plc. [1994] 2 A.C. 264, 305 (H.L.(E.) 1993, per Lord Goff of Chieveley).
37. BGHZ 55, 229, 234; cf. Wagner, op. cit. supra note 27, p. 275 et seq.
38. For a thorough treatment see Wagner, op. cit. supra note 27, p. 220 et seq.
39. Zimmermann, Roman Law, Contemporary Law, European Law (OUP, 2001), p. 112 et seq.
40. Spier, in European Group on Tort Law, Principles of European Tort Law, supra note 1, "Introduction", No. 20.
41. Supra note 29.
42. Wagner, op. cit. supra note 27, p. 283 et seq.
43. See infra, 5, note 61.
44. Spier, in Principles of European Tort Law, supra note 1, Art. 3:102 No. 8, 12; Art. 3: 103 No. 7.
45. Spier, in Principles of European Tort Law, supra note 1, Art. 3:102 No. 9.
46. Cf. Wagner, in Münchener Kommentar zum BGB, Vol. 5, 4th ed. 2004, Sect. 830 No. 53 et seq.
47. Infra, 7.
48. Spier, in Principles of European Tort Law, supra note 1, "Introduction", No. 32.
49. Case C-168/00, Simone Leitner v. TUI Deutschland GmbH & Co. KG, [2002] ECR I-2631. Although the plaintiff suffered personal injury (salmonella infection), compensation for pain and suffering was not in issue as this head of damages had been recognized by Austrian law. The ECJ was solely concerned with damages for loss of enjoyment of the holidays (entgangene Urlaubsfreude); cf. para 10 of the judgment.
50. Council Directive 90/314/EEC of 13 June 1990 on package travel, package holidays and package tours, O.J. 1990, L 158/59-64.
51. Simone Leitner, supra note 41, at para 23 ; see also the case notes by Roth, 40 CML Rev. (2003), 937;
52. Tonner, 11 Zeitschrift für Europäisches Privatrecht (2003), 623.
53. Roth, supra note 43, 940.
54. Allgemeines Landrecht für die Preußischen Staaten of 1794, reprint 1970, part I, Title 6, paras. 1-138.
55. Cf. Wagner, op. cit. supra note 27, p. 197 et seq.
56. The terms "principle" and "rule" as employed in the present context refer to the level of abstraction of a particular legal norm, not to the contrast between norms which are strictly binding (rules) and others which allow and require to be balanced by competing norms (principles); cf. Wagner, op. cit. supra note 27, p. 199 with further reference;
57. Zimmermann, "Principles of European Contract Law and Principles of European Tort Law: Comparison and Points of Contact", in Koziol and Steininger (Eds.), European Tort Law 2003 (ETL/Springer, 2004), no. 6.
58. Spier, in Principles of European Tort Law, supra note 1, Introduction, p. 22 et seq.;
59. as to the concept of a flexible system see Wilburg, Die Elemente des Schadensrechts (1941), p. 26 et seq.;
60. see also the contributions in Bydlinski, Krejci, Schilcher and Steininger (Eds.), Das Bewegliche System im geltenden und künftigen Recht (1986).
61. See supra 4.2.1.
62. See infra 5, note 61.
63. Cf. Van Boom, Koziol and Witting (Eds.), Pure Economie Loss (Springer, 2004);
64. Bussani and Palmer (Eds), Pure Economic Loss in Europe (Cambridge UP, 2003);
65. Banakas (Ed.), Civil Liability for Pure Economic Loss (Kluwer, 1996);
66. Gómez and Ruiz, "The Plural and Misleading Notion of Economic Loss in Tort: A Law and Economics Perspective", 12 Zeitschrift für Europäisches Privatrecht (2004), 908;
67. see also Wagner, op. cit. supra note 27, p. 230 et seq.
68. Koziol, in Principles of European Tort Law, supra note 1, Art. 2:102 No. 5.
69. Widmer, in Principles of European Tort Law, supra note 1, Art. 4:102 No. 16 et seq.
70. Koch, in Principles of European Tort Law, supra note 1, Art. 5:101 para 16.
71. Ibid., Art. 7:102 para 2.
72. Cf. Goerlich, Wertordnung und Grundgesetz (1973), p. 131 et seq.;
73. Schlink, Abwägung im Verfassungsrecht, 1976, p. 128 et seq.
74. Spier, in Principles of European Tort Law, supra note 32.
75. Reprinted in Wagner, Das neue Schadensersatzrecht (Nomos, 2002), p. 100.
76. Supra, 3.3.
77. Fairchild v. Glenhaven Funeral Services Ltd., [2002] 3 WLR 89, 110 et seq. (H.L.(E.), 2002).
78. Spier, Principles of European Tort Law, supra note 1, Art. 3:102 No. 9.
79. Ibid., No. 8 et seq.; Art. 3:103 No. 7. It is highly doubtful, however, whether Sect. 830 paragraph 2 cl. 2 German civil code would have applied to facts such as the ones of the Fairchild case. The traditional view is that for tortfeasors to be jointly and severally liable, each of their contributions must have been capable of causing the entire injury;
80. cf. Wagner, in Münchener Kommentar zum BGB, supra note 38, Sect. 830 No. 50, 53 et seq.
81. Green Paper on the conversion of the Rome Convention of 1980 on the law applicable to contractual obligations into a Community instrument and its modernisation, COM(2002)654 final.
82. Commission Proposal ("Rome II") supra note 5; see also the report by the European Parliament, Committee on Legal Affairs and the Internal Market, Draft Report (Revised Version), Provisional 2003/0168 (COD).
83. Lando and Beale, Principles of European Contract Law, Parts I and II (Aspen, 2000), p. XI.
84. The original draft is reprinted at 21 AJCL (1973), 587; 38 RabelsZ 211 (1974), cf. Arts. 10-12 in particular.
85. Ibid.
86. Cf. Lando and Beale, supra note 65;
87. see also Lando, Clive, Prüm and Zimmermann, Principles of European Contract Law, Part III (Aspen, 2003).
88. Ibid, p. XXIII et seq.
89. Resolution A2-157/89, O.J. 1989, C 158/400; Resolution A3-0329/94, O.J. 1994, C 205/518; Resolution B5-0228, 0229, 0230/2000; O.J. 2000, C 377/323, 326.
90. O.J. 2001, C 255/1 ; see also Council Report on the need to approximate Member States' legislation in civil matters, adopted by the Council 16.11.2001, DGH III 13017/01. European Parliament, Committee on Legal Affairs and the Internal Market, Report on the approximation of the civil and commercial law of the Member States, A 5-0384/2001 Final: European Parliament resolution on the approximation of the civil and commercial law of the Member States; Rapporteur Klaus-Heiner Lehne.
91. Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council: A more coherent European Contract Law - An action plan, 12.2.2003, COM (2003) 68 final, p. 2.
92. Hesselink, "The European Commission's Action Plan: Towards a More Coherent European Contract Law" (2004) European Review of Private Law, 397.
93. See above, notes 63 et seq., note 66.
94. The interplay between the Principles of European Contract Law and the Principles of European Tort Law is expounded by Zimmermann, in Koziol and Steininger, supra note 47, p. 1 et seq.
95. Von Bar and Drobnig, supra note 12.
96. Ibid, No. 702.
97. Ibid., No. 712;
98. see also No. 736.
99. Wagner, op. cit. supra note 38, Vor § 823 No. 61.
100. Spier, in Principles of European Tort Law, supra note 1, Introduction, No. 41.
101. Stevens, "Hedley Byrne v. Heller - Judicial Creativity and Doctrinal Possibility", 27 MLR 121, 161 (1964);
102. Tunc, "Torts", Introduction, in: International Encyclopedia of Comparative Law, Vol. XI, Ch. 1, no. 32, 44.
103. Wagner, op. cit. supra note 27, p. 232 et seq.
104. Wagner, op. cit. supra note 38, § 826 no. 53 et seq., 58.
105. Lequette, "Quelques remarques à propos du projet de code civil européen de M. von Bar", (2002) Dalloz, 2202, 2210.
106. Supra, note 40.
107. 10 European Law Journal 653 (2004);
108. see also Wilhelmsson, "Private Law in the EU: Harmonised or Fragmented Europeanisation?,"(2002) European Review of Private Law, 11, 84 et seq.
109. Study Group on Social Justice in European Contract Law, 10 European Law Journal (2004) 653, 655 et seq., 662 et seq.;
110. Wilhelmsson, op. cit. supra note 87, 77, 84: "Return to liberalism" as the price to be paid for harmonization.
111. Study Group on Social Justice in European Contract Law, op. cit. supra note 87, 662, 664 (2004).
112. Study Group on Social Justice in European Contract Law, op. cit. supra note 87, 665 (2004).
113. See also Wilhelmsson, op. cit. supra note 86, 85.
114. Study Group on Social Justice in European Contract Law, op. cit. supra note 87, 670 (2004).
115. Craswell, "Passing on the Costs of Legal Rules: Efficiency and Distribution in Buyer-Seller Relationships", 43 Stanford Law Review (1991) 361, 366 et seq.;
116. but also Duncan Kennedy, "Distributive and Paternalist Motives in Contract and Tort Law, with Special Reference to Compulsory Terms and Unequal Bargaining Power", 41 Maryland Law Review (1982), 563, 604 et seq.
117. Cf. Koch, in Principles of European Tort Law, supra note 1, Art. 5:101 No. 9.
118. Cf. Widmer, "Die Vereinheitlichung des schweizerischen Haftungsrechts - Brennpunkte eines Projekts", 130 ZBerJV (1994), 385, 397;
119. Koch, "Die Gesamtrevision des schweizerischen Haftpflichtrechts", 9 Zeitschrift für Europäisches Privatrecht (2001), 753. The Swiss Federal Government has recently dropped the plans to reform the law of delict.
120. Cf. Wagner, in Tort Law and Liability Insurance (2005), Comparative Report, no. 77 et seq.