Private Law and the European Constitutionalisation of Values

According to the CFREU, the EU is founded on the general values such as values of human dignity, freedom, equality and solidarity. In addition, the TEU refers to a more political set of foundational values, ie respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights. These references could be understood as purely ornamental, or as irrelevant in any case for private law. Indeed, it is true that the Court of Justice so far has never made any references to these values in private law cases. Still, the Court already has shown boldness before in the context of the interpretation and review of secondary EU law in private law cases, when it discovered general principles of EU law and general principles of civil law. Therefore, it should not be excluded that the Court may be tempted one day to follow the example of the German constitutional court that famously understands its national constitution as expressing an objective system of constitutional values. This paper explores what such an understanding of private law as an instrument for furthering common European values would entail and examines whether such an ethical reading of European private law would be desirable. It argues that the promotion by the EU of a set of official values through its laws is not compatible we the respect we owe each other in a society characterised by reasonable pluralism. In addition, it points to further difficulties, both of a moral and a practical nature, of the idea of advancing ethical values through private law. It concludes that although it is very well thinkable that the values to which the TEU and the Charter refer will one day be interpreted as an objective value system with (indirect) horizontal effects, the Court of Justice nevertheless should refrain from going down that road

Common European Sales Law (CESL) and Private International Law: Some Critical Remarks

This article is an updated and revised version of the contribution published by the author in XI Anuario Español de Derecho Internacional Privado, 2011, 25-61, under the title: “La Propuesta de Reglamento relativo a una normativa común de compraventa europea y el Derecho internacional privado”.La Propuesta de Reglamento del Parlamento Europeo y del Consejo relativo a una normativa común de compraventa europea de 11 de octubre de 2011 (PCESL) introduce una reglamentación material para algunas compraventas transfronterizas que no desplaza la aplicación de las normas de conflicto (en particular de las contenidas de los Reglamentos “Roma I” y “Roma II”). Al contrario, el instrumento opcional contenido en la Propuesta de Reglamento (CESL) presupone la aplicación de la ley de un Estado miembro, como lex contractus. Una vez escogida por las partes, la CESL desplaza a las normas internas cobre compraventa de la ley del Estado miembro. Esta opción del legislador comunitario plantea numerosos problemas e interrogantes acerca de las relaciones entre la CESL y las normas de Derecho internacional privado y en torno a su coexistencia con otros convenios internacionales y el propio acervo comunitario. El análisis de estas relaciones es el objeto del presente estudio, que permite concluir con una valoración negativa de la competitividad internacional de este nuevo instrumento comunitario.The Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on a Common European Sales Law of 11 October 2011 (PCESL) introduces a substantive regulation for some cross-border sales contracts that does not displace the application of conflict-of-laws rules (especially those included in “Rome I” and “Rome II” Regulations). On the contrary, the optional instrument included in the Proposal (CESL) presupposes the application of the law of a Member State as lex contractus. Once the parties have chosen the CESL, this regime prevails over the internal rules on sales contracts of the law of that Member State. The formula used by the European legislator gives rise to many concerns and questions about the relationships between the CESL and the conflict-of-laws rules and about its cohabitation with other international conventions and the European acquis itself. The analysis of these relationships is the subject of this article, which concludes with a negative assessment on the international competitiveness of the new European instrument