Category Archives: European Private Law
Bianca Scraback, ‘The international element requirement for consumer contract jurisdiction in the Brussels Ia Regulation’
ABSTRACT Whether or not local jurisdiction in consumer contract cases is regulated in the EU by the Brussels Ia Regulation or domestic rules on jurisdiction hinges on the existence of a relevant international element. Even determining the relevance of international elements using a rules-based approach and despite two decisions of the CJEU, the paper argues […]
Tom Bouwman, ‘Not all consumers are the same: how is the differentiation between consumers operationalised in EU consumer law?’
ABSTRACT European Union (EU) consumer law is rather one-size-fits-all, meaning that it largely disregards differences between consumers and their protection needs. Consequently, there is underprotection, which can not only harm the internal market but is also at odds with the EU’s commitment to ensuring a high level of consumer protection. To be able to propose […]
Mallet, Nassar, Fadli and Abdulhay, ‘Between Autonomy and Protection: A Critical Assessment of Exclusion Clauses in Tort Law Under the French Draft Civil Liability Reform’
ABSTRACT This paper critically examines the proposed reform of non-contractual civil liability in French law, with a particular focus on the validity of liability-exclusion and limitation clauses. While the draft legislation (2019-2020) marks a significant shift by recognizing the general validity of such clauses under Article 1284, it simultaneously imposes strict limitations, rendering them void […]
Call for Abstracts: Young Property Lawyers’ Forum (YPLF) Annual Conference: University of Groningen, 25-26 June 2026
The theme of this year’s conference is: ‘Property and Protection’. Property rights understood as exclusionary rights operate in a distinct way. They allocate resources to individuals who enjoy extensive protection of their use interests. Is this mode of protection justified by the interests it is supposed to serve (eg, autonomy, efficient resource allocation, fostering innovation)? […]
T Markus Funk, ‘Freedom vs Dignity: What US and German Defamation Law Protect (and What They Sacrifice)’
ABSTRACT Defamation law exposes a jurisdiction’s deepest constitutional instincts. In the US, First Amendment doctrine reflects a belief that truth best emerges from unrestrained speech. The US model, reflecting historical antecedents, is designed to prevent government suppression of dissent, even at the cost of corrosive falsehoods being spread, In Germany, in contrast, post-authoritarian constitutionalism following […]
Thomas Pfeiffer, ‘Civil Climate Change Litigation Between Law and Politics Limited Scope Rather Than Unlimited Interpretation’
ABSTRACT The article aims to identify the limits of European law and the challenges of conflict of laws that arise in relation to civil climate change litigation. The legal dispute pending in the Netherlands between Vereniging Milieudefensie and Shell and the global order initially issued by the Rechtbank Den Haag requiring CO₂ reduction play a […]
Möllers and Glas, ‘Paying for Returns in Distance Contracts: Rethinking Consumer Protection Law’
ABSTRACT In Germany, one fourth of all goods bought online are returned to the retailer; for clothing, the figure is up to 75%. Whether the legislator had numbers like these in mind when he introduced the right of withdrawal almost 30 years ago seems doubtful. Its legal basis, the Consumer Rights Directive and its predecessor, […]
Olha Cherednychenko, ‘The Public and Private Enforcement of EU Digital Space Private Law’
ABSTRACT European Union (EU) digital space private law harnesses both public and private enforcement in the pursuit of its policy goals. This article explores whether this part of EU private law is supported by a coherent enforcement architecture and how this architecture could be improved so as to make effective use of public and private […]
Raphael Esu, ‘Blockchain and data protection: developing a functional erasure framework for storage limitation’
ABSTRACT This article aims to contribute to the contemporary issue of blockchain’s compatibility with data privacy regulations. Existing literature primarily focuses on the potential legal challenges associated with using blockchain technology for processing personal data. This article focuses specifically on the storage limitation principle and shifts from merely identifying problems to proposing a more solution-oriented […]
Izyumenko and Geiger, ‘Freedom of Expression and Intellectual Property before the European Courts’
ABSTRACT This paper presents the second chapter of the forthcoming book Human Rights and Intellectual Property before the European Courts: A Case Commentary on the Court of Justice of the European Union and the European Court of Human Rights, the first comprehensive guide to how Europe’s highest courts address the intersection of intellectual property (IP) […]