Category Archives: European Private Law
‘Doing Justice to Justice in EU Data Law’
Data-driven technology has become a mainstay in our societies. Feeding AI systems and the IoT, large-scale datasets have the potential to radically reshape our understanding of things and basic social practices. It should thus come as no surprise that regulating data has become a central concern of regulation across the world. The European Union’s (‘EU’) […]
‘Reconfiguring contract law through sustainability’
Though not the centrepiece, sustainability was already on the radar of the Manifesto for Social Justice in European Contract Law in 2004: ‘It is important to align the general principles of social justice that govern the market order with standards designed to protect public goods such as a healthy environment’. Twenty years later, as humanity […]
‘The other “class” question’
The original Manifesto refers to ‘procedures’ and ‘enforcement’ only once each. Yet, civil procedure is essential to any analysis of private law. In Europe, civil procedure and enforcement laws are advancing at a fast pace, influenced both by the European Union and national legislatures. In the past two decades, Europe has witnessed a noticeable increase […]
‘How the “Legal Capacity” of Persons with Disabilities May Serve as a Tool for Social Justice in Europe?’
Self-determination, employment, housing, and access to credit are essential aspects of social justice insofar as they are necessary to satisfy citizens’ fundamental needs and ensure a range of basic entitlements (Caruso 2013). All these central traits of the human condition are closely connected with (and dependent on) one of the basic and traditional concepts of […]
‘The Making of the Debtor Society: From Affluence to Normalised Indebtedness’
In this contribution, I introduce the concept of a ‘debtor society’ and explore how it reflects broader socio-economic transformations shaped by neoliberal policies and financialisation. Building on Pistor’s (2019) argument that capital is coded in law, I argue that the debtor society is defined by two key elements: the normalisation of indebtedness as a central […]
‘How the EU Can Avoid Green Colonialism’
Twenty years after its publication, the Manifesto for Social Justice in Contract Law’s call to ‘align the general principles of social justice that govern the market order with standards designed to protect public goods such as a healthy environment’ continues to resonate. The traditional definition of social justice – focused on the fair and equal […]
‘Private Law Fairness between Generations?’
Distributive justice is an essential element of social justice. When discussing distributive justice in private law, one important question is: a fair distribution between whom? For example, is a consumer protection instrument that strengthens the position of societally strong consumers, but is less important for weak ones (like much of the information paradigm), ‘social’? The […]
‘Digital Vulnerability as a Tool for Social Justice in European Private Law’
In recent decades, the concept of vulnerability has emerged in many post-industrial societies to signify the growing fragility of human beings, economies, infrastructures, and ecosystems in the contemporary world. The notion of ‘vulnerable subject’, in particular, has become a powerful and dynamic concept that explains how all individuals, including those who do not belong to […]
‘Reconceptualising the Social Dimension of Business Freedoms through a Fundamental Rights Lens’
The balancing of economic and social rights and interests has provoked an almost perennial discussion within the context of the deepening and widening of European Union (EU) integration. In my forthcoming monograph, Business Freedoms and Fundamental Rights in European Union Law (OUP 2024), I explore further the fundamental rights implications of this debate, with an […]
Jovana Cicmil, ‘Consumer rights protection and prohibition of unfair business practices with the aim of improving consumer needs and demands satisfaction’
ABSTRACT A characteristic feature of contemporary business and current trends in the market economy is primarily globalization, which has significantly enhanced the possibilities for expanding operations from one market to multiple markets, while simultaneously increasing competitiveness among business entities. Consumer protection in developed market economies is not a new topic; however, under the conditions of […]