The Structural Transformation of European Private Law: A Critique of Juridical Hermeneutics

This book provides a ground-breaking reading, both comparative and historical, of the structure and transformation of private law in continental Europe. In doing so it reconstructs a hermeneutical praxis that is (it is argued) at the core of private law: the balancing of conflicting interests and normative considerations.

The book makes three key arguments; firstly that 'balancing' in private law is a not merely an analytical process but instead a form of legal argument. Secondly, in order to truly understand private law, a bottom-up historical analysis must be adopted. Thirdly, 'balancing' has always been a comparative process within civil law systems and across the civil-common law divide.

This is a magisterial survey of European private law, which offers innovative analytical tools that afford a deep understanding of the evolution of the discipline.