The Constitutionalization of European Private Law
In recent years the impact of human rights
and fundamental rights on private law has risen in prominence and led to a whole
series of detailed investigations. 'Constitutionalization of private law' is the
flag under which most of the research on the increasing impact of national
constitutional rights on national private legal orders is sailing.
In the
absence of a European Constitution, the constitutionalization of European
private law suggests a process: constitutionalization instead of constituent
power, demos, and the magic constitutional moment. The Charter of Fundamental
Rights and the European Convention of Human Rights constitute the two pillars on
which the transformation of European private law rests.
This volume
clearly demonstrates the change that has taken place, at the national and at the
European level. Private law is no longer immune to the intrusion of fundamental
and human rights. Whilst member states and the EU are driving the process by
adopting ever more concrete and more comprehensive lists of human and
fundamental rights, at the national, the European, and international level with
overlapping contents, the true and key players in this development are the
national and European courts. Contributions to this volume give this process a
face and a direction, which is highlighted in the introduction by Hans-W.
Micklitz
