A postscript: a harmonised European law of vicarious liability?

Abstract

This chapter will consider the potential impact of proposals for the future harmonisation of European private law. From the 1980s, there has been growing support for the possibility of harmonisation of private law at a European level. Although initially primarily academic initiatives, from 1989 support has also been received from the European Parliament and Commission. Recent years have seen three major publications of European tort law principles: the Principles of European Tort Law (PETL) (2005), Principles on Non-Contractual Liability Arising out of Damage Caused to Another (the SGECC principles) (2006), and the Draft Common Frame of Reference (DCFR) (2009). These projects go beyond a summary of existing law, but seek to establish a set of principles for future European private law. In the words of one of the project groups: The aim of the Study Group is to produce a set of codified principles for the core areas of European private law (patrimonial law). Although the foundation for our work is detailed comparative law research, the principles which we are fashioning will represent more than a mere restatement of the existing law in the various EU jurisdictions from the standpoint of the predominant trends among the diverse legal regimes. Instead the Study Group seeks to formulate principles which constitute the most suitable private law rules for Europe-wide application. The most significant proposal to date is that of the DCFR. In October 2009, the Study Group on a European Civil Code (SGECC) and the Research Group on EC Private Law (‘Acquis Group’) published a six-volume work entitled Principles, definitions and model rules of European private law: draft Common Frame of Reference.