Lando, Ole --- "Making the Principles of European Contract Law: Theoretical and Methodological Aspects" [2010] ELECD 122; in Bakardjieva Engelbrekt, Antonina; Nergelius, Joakim (eds), "New Directions in Comparative Law" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2010)

Book Title: New Directions in Comparative Law

Editor(s): Bakardjieva Engelbrekt, Antonina; Nergelius, Joakim

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781848443181

Section: Chapter 11

Section Title: Making the Principles of European Contract Law: Theoretical and Methodological Aspects

Author(s): Lando, Ole

Number of pages: 8

Extract:

11. Making the Principles of European
Contract Law: theoretical and
methodological aspects*
Ole Lando
Why is examining the laws and customs of foreign nations useful? We lawyers
who are possessed by the wish to improve the law cannot but help to search
for the best solution, and in the search for the best solution we have to study
foreign laws.
Today there is a need to unify or harmonise the laws of the world or a
region of the world, as for instance Europe. In this chapter, I shall not give the
grounds for this need, just state that it is there. What I shall do instead is give
an account of how laws were examined and used when the Principles of
European Contract Law (PECL) were elaborated.


I. THE MEMBERS OF THE COMMISSION ON
EUROPEAN CONTRACT LAW (CECL)
The project to prepare the PECL was new, and its aim to provide uniform
contract rules for the EU was controversial. Some of those who were asked to
become Members of the Commission on European Contract Law (CECL)
were reluctant to work without pay in a venture with an uncertain future. It
took almost two years to get all EU countries represented in the CECL.
However, I succeeded in getting a team of independent academics. They were,
if not experts, certainly well-read in contract law. Most of them were familiar
with the systems and structures of foreign laws, and all of them were ready to
accept that their own legal ...