Introduction 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 [...]
Today, consent seems an important occurrence of our daily life. Traditionally, consent was the staple of classical contract law but consent is nowadays relevant not only for making contracts, but also in sexual relationships, in surrogate motherhood relationship, or in the use of our image. The new world, the digital world, is lives [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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), [...]
The emerging paradigm of digital vulnerability 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 [...]
Introduction 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 [...]
Digital technology is being integrated into our daily lives and personal spheres and soon it will be part of our bodies. For instance, advancements in neurotechnology include brain imaging and the manipulation of brain activity through neural devices, as part of the diagnoses and treatment of several psychiatric and neurological conditions. However, these [...]
Introduction Given the current intertwined ad multifaceted global crisis, and given the at best modest outcomes of private law in moderating deepening inequalities - despite the numerous and laudable efforts by scholars with different backgrounds -, does it still make sense to enquire whether and how private law could foster social justice? In [...]