Private Law and the Many Cultures of Europe

Book excerpt: The continuing headlong increase in cross-border legal issues of all kinds raises a host of new issues for private law even as it reconfigures the old issues, both in theory and in practice. In an effort to identify trends and consolidate what weand’ve learned in this important area, outstanding legal scholars from nine European countries (plus Australia) convened at the University of Helsinki in August 2006. This volume reproduces, in definitive English texts, twenty-two of the papers presented at that conference. The issues addressed cluster around four basic questions: To what extent does the multiculturalism of the European Union hamper the development of common private law rules? Which rules that are specific for a particular state/region/culture need to be preserved? To what extent can localism be met with variations in the application of common provisions? What problems for the common rules are posed by the fact that they are to be implemented in a multilingual society? While overarching concerns such as social justice, harmonization, culture, and diversity pervade all the essays, such crucial practical considerations as legal translation and regulation of advertising are not neglected. The book will be welcomed by academics in the various fields of private law everywhere, and will also be of uncommon interest to practitioners in commercial and company law and to policymakers in many areas of government regulation. The conference was organized by the PriME (Private Law in a Multicultural and Multilingual European Society) research project at the Department of Private Law and the Institute of International Economic Law (KATTI) at the University of Helsinki.