EUROPEAN CONTRACT LAW
Academic year and teacher
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- Versione italiana
- Academic year
- 2017/2018
- Teacher
- ALBERTO DE FRANCESCHI
- Credits
- 6
- Didactic period
- Primo Semestre
- SSD
- IUS/01
Training objectives
- Main knowledge acquired: The course aims to provide a systematic analysis of European Contract Law, from its roots up to the latest developments. The first part of the course will deal with the sources and principles of European Contract Law and on the relationships between EU Law and the legislation of Member States, the focus being on harmonisation of national laws with a particular attention to business-to-consumer directives and their implementation in the member States. The second part of the course will address specific issues relating to the formation of the contract and its effects, namely unfair commercial practices in business-to-consumer contracts and misleading advertising in business-to-business contracts, distance contracts, unfair terms, sale of goods, liability for defective goods, late payments, overbooking and passenger air services. In this context, special attention will be paid to contracts concluded by electronic means as well as to the sale of digital contents both in business-to-consumer and in business-to-business relationships.
Main abilities acquired: in order to ensure the acquisition of the knowledge of European Contract Law also relating to its practical application, subject matter of the course will be also the analysis of contracts and of the most relevant decisions of national and European Courts. In this way, students will acquire the ability to draft contractual texts and of interpret their contents. At the same time, students will learn to access to and to use case-law and literature databanks, also learning how to interpret their contents. Prerequisites
- A basic knowledge of the principles of the system of the sources of European Law is required. Good English skills (from upper intermediate – CEFR: B2) are also required.
In order to have access to the exam of European Contract Law, Italian Students are required to have passed the following exams: Diritto Costituzionale and Istituzioni di Diritto Privato. Course programme
- Introduction: the system of the sources of European Contract Law and the relationships between EU Law and the law of EU member States.
The following topics are subject matter of specific analysis: the course will address in particular the following topics: sources and principles of European Contract Law; relationships between EU Law and the legislation of Member States; harmonisation of national laws; formation of the contract and its effects; unfair commercial practices; misleading advertising in business-to-business contracts; distance contracts; sale of goods; liability for defective goods; late payments; overbooking and passenger air services; E-Commerce; supply of digital contents.
Research on law sources: particular attention will be dedicated, also by means of practical exercises, to research activity related to the main sources of law.
The course is divided into two parts: 30 hours will be dedicated to traditional lectures, divided as follows:
1) sources and principles of European Contract Law, relationships between EU Law and the legislation of Member States, harmonisation of national laws (4 hours); 2) formation of the contract and its effects, unfair commercial practices, misleading advertising in business-to-business contracts, distance contracts (8 hours); 3) sale of goods, liability for defective goods, late payments, overbooking and passenger air services, E-Commerce, supply of digital contents (8 hours).
10 hours will be dedicated to the discussion of contracts and of case law of particular relevance. Didactic methods
- Lectures and discussion of the most relevant case law
Learning assessment procedures
- Oral examination consisting of two theoric questions and of one question concerning the discussion of case law.
It is required a good knowledge of the Civil Code relating to the arguments analysed during the course.
The final mark is the result of the mark achieved in the examination concerning the theoric questions (which counts for 2/3) as well of the mark achieved in the discussion of case law (which counts for 1/3). Reference texts
- Subject of the exam will be exclusively the contents of the lectures.
For further references, please see the following books (the study of the two books is in any case non mandatory):
R. Schulze / F. Zoll, European Contract Law, C.H. Beck, Nomos, Hart, 2016
J. Rutgers / P. Sirena, Rules and Principles in European Contract Law, Intersentia, 2015
