Spillover Effects of European Law on National Private Law: A Comparative Analysis

Provisions of EU law may sometimes affect national law beyond their formal scope of application. This volume explores such ‘spillovers’ from EU private law into the Member States’ domestic law from a comparative perspective, with a special focus on the legal systems of Germany and Italy. The contributions examine whether the spillover effects produced by EU law undermine or, conversely, enhance the coherence of national private law.

The first chapter sheds light on the concept of ‘spillover effects’ and sets out the overarching research questions guiding the contributions. The next two chapters offer a broader analysis of spillover effects into national private law, while the remaining chapters deal with spillover effects in specific fields of private law, namely in relation to judicial review of unfair contract terms, sales law and, finally, competition law. Finally, an epilogue summarises the main findings.

This volume is aimed at scholars and practitioners specialised in European law, EU private law as well as comparative law.