Europeanisation of civil law Abstract This diploma thesis aims to discuss the phenomenon of Europeanization of civil law. This is a contemporary phenomenon in the law of the member states of the European Union. Its substance is the process of influencing the sphere of private law and civil law respectivelly, as a result of the ongoing process of European integration. The first chapter deals with the definition of basic concepts. The second chapter briefly discusses the history of the whole process and then discusses the underlying theoretical questions: whether Europeanization is at all necessary and, if so, whether it is feasible and what methods thereof are being used. It aims to introduce and confront different approaches. The third chapter gives an overview of the current state of hard law in the field of civil law at the EU level. The fourth chapter focuses on the soft law in the field of European civil law and provides an overview of some of the most important academic initiatives in that field. It also demonstrates how some of the academic projects had influence on the current Czech Civil Code. The fifth chapter then specifically focuses on one area of civil law at EU level - the European tort law, which it seeks to discuss in a synthetic way. The final part of the thesis summarizes key facts and...

Le droit privé européen se construit progressivement, à la fois en tant que branche du droit, notamment à travers les instruments du droit de l’Union européenne, et en tant que discipline juridique, c’est-à-dire comme savoir juridique. Le rôle de la doctrine apparaît primordial dans cette construction (ou reconstruction dès lors que le jus commune médiéval est considéré comme un précédent). Au caractère fragmentaire et sectoriel des instruments du droit de l’Union européenne touchant au droit privé, la doctrine a répondu en élaborant des instruments de droit prospectif qui ambitionnent de construire le droit privé européen comme une branche du droit complète et cohérente. Les projets publiés couvrent par exemple la théorie générale des contrats (Principes du droit européen des contrats, dirigés par O. Lando), le droit de la responsabilité civile (Principles of European Tort Law), voire tout le droit patrimonial (Draft Common Frame of Reference, dirigé par C. von Bar). La doctrine joue aussi un rôle dans la diffusion des concepts dans les différents systèmes juridiques (estoppel, intérêts négatif et positif, incombance,…). Cette diffusion est favorisée par l’apparition de manuels, de cours, de diplômes consacrés au droit privé européen, alors même que celui-ci demeure très incomplet. Quelle que soit la manière dont est envisagé le droit privé européen, la doctrine tient un rôle essentiel. L’omniprésence de la doctrine impose donc de s’interroger sur son rôle dans la construction, ou selon certains dans la reconstruction, d’un droit privé européen. / European private law is gradually built, both as a branch of law, especially through EU legal instruments, and as a legal discipline, i.e. as a legal knowledge, a jurisprudence. Legal scholarship plays a fundamental part in this construction (or reconstruction when medieval jus commune is regarded as a precedent). In response to the fragmentary and sectorial approach of EU legal instruments concerning private law, legal scholarship has drawn up several legal drafts; these drafts aim to build the European private law as a complete and consistent branch of law. The published drafts include general contract law (Principles of European Contract Law, edited by O. Lando), tort law (Principles of European Tort Law), and even the whole patrimonial law (Draft Common Frame of Reference, edited by C. von Bar). The legal scholarship also plays a part in the diffusion of concepts in different legal systems (estoppel, reliance and expectation interests, Obliegenheit, …). This diffusion is enhanced by the emergence of books, lectures, degrees in European private law, even if this law remains very incomplete. Whichever way European private law is understood, legal scholarship contributes in an essential manner. The omnipresence of the legal scholarship leads to question its role in the construction, or according to some authors the reconstruction, of a European private law.

La problématique conduit à une analyse du droit européen privé des contrats. La première partie recherche les sources de la liberté contractuelle européenne. La multiplicité des règles et des pratiques permet de constater un défaut de définition. Le premier chapitre souligne que l'autonomie de la volonté est relative parce qu’elle est subjective et évolue au gré des équilibres en jeu. Il s'agit d'une liberté intégrée, issue du code civil romano-germanique. Le second chapitre permet de constater que l'autonomie de la volonté est un principe très relatif en droit international privé. Le pluralisme du droit implique que la liberté contractuelle est une notion sans source et ni stable, ni établie. Le droit international privé européen est en construction et fonctionnel.La seconde partie étudie la liberté contractuelle européenne du point de vue du droit positif au sens large du terme. Cette liberté est un principe relatif en symbiose avec les nécessités de protection des cocontractants et du commerce européen. Il s’agit d'un principe subjectif du fait de l'ordre public européen (qui contient l’ordre public économique, les lois de police et l’ordre public international classique), et d’un principe essentiel dans la construction européenne. Le premier chapitre trace le cadre et la structure générale de la liberté contractuelle européenne. Elle participe au commerce et se doit de respecter les principes essentiels de l’Union au sens de droit objectif (liberté d’établissement, juste concurrence, égalité commerciale) ; elle est traduite par l’essor de principes européens et par la pratique commerciale. Le second chapitre note que la liberté est une notion intégrée dans la société européenne. Elle est fonctionnelle et trouve son équilibre en correspondant avec l’ordre public au sens subjectif (protection des parties les plus faibles et des droits fondamentaux). / Problem drives to analyze what is European right of contract. First part searches the sources of European freedom of contract. The multiplicity of rules and practices allows seeing a defect of definition. The first chapter underlines that the autonomy of the will is relative because it is subjective and it evolves according to the balances in contract. It determines that this freedom is joined and is partly the result from the Romano-Germanic civil code. The second chapter allows noticing that the autonomy of the will is henceforth a very relative principle in international private law.Pluralism of the law involves that the contractual freedom is a notion without spring neither stable nor established. The European private international law is under construction and organized in a functional waySecond part studies the European contractual freedom from the point of view of the substantive law. This freedom is a relative principle in symbiosis with the necessities of protection of the parties of contract and necessities of the European business. It is about a subjective principle because of the European law and order (it contains the economic law and order, the lois de police and the classic international law and order), and because of principles in the European construction. The first chapter draws the frame and the general structure of the European contractual freedom. It participates in the business and owes respect the essential principles of the Union in the direction of objective right-law (freedom of establishment, just competition, commercial equality); it is characterized by the European principal development and by the commercial practice. Second chapter notes that the freedom is integrated into the European Union. It is functional and finds balance by corresponding with the law and order to the subjective direction (protection of the weakest parties and the fundamental rights).

Recent case law from the ECJ on one of the most important EU contract law legislation has left questions open about the compatibility of Swedish con­tract law with the Unfair Contracts Term Directive. The case law on Article 6 (1) in the directive seem to have changed the view on how to deal with the legal consequence of an unfair term in consumer contracts; namely that unfair terms cannot be adjusted but need to be declared invalid. This essay examines how the effects from the ECJ case law provide new light upon Swedish contract law. The effect creates a clash of ideas and rationalities between Union law and Swedish contract law. Unfair terms cannot be adjusted as the relevant Swedish legislation provides. An unfair term needs to be invalid, and if necessary, such an unfair term can in certain circumstances be complemented with default rules from national contract law. This does not only seem to change the interpretation and application of the Swedish law, but it also form an underlying tension between the instrumental market-functional Union law and the more jus­tice oriented Swedish private law.  Furthermore, as we move towards a new European civil code, perhaps these tensions and clashes may say something about where the discipline of European Private Law is headed.