Non-Contractual Liability Arising out of Damage Caused to Another under the DCFR

Abstract

the DcFR does not just contain model rules on contract law. Whereas Books ii and iV have contracts as their sole subject matter, Book iii applies, unless otherwise indicated in the relevant section, to both contractual and non-contractual obligations, and Books V, Vi and Vii are concerned only with non-contractual obligations. the reasons why we dealt with contractual and non-contractual obligations together in Book iii are explained in the introduction to the interim Outline Edition (at margin no. 48), and i will refer to that text here. the Principles of European contract law were not very coherent in this respect. in some areas they went already far beyond contract law, and all that we have done in the DcFR is basically to follow that route and to clarify and extend this approach. there are many areas in which it would have simply made no sense to restrict the relevant model rules to contract law. think, for example, of the rules on plurality of creditors and debtors, on assignment, on withholding performance and even on performance itself. Article iii.-1:102 therefore reads: “this Book applies to obligations within the scope of these rules, whether they are contractual or not, and to corresponding rights to performance.” Exceptions to this general rule are clearly indicated, one example being Article iii.-3:501 on the scope of the Articles on termination. it is, however, not just in these areas where we have to be aware of the many overlaps between contractual and non-contractual obligations and their mutual interaction and dependency. Such basic concepts as the notions of damage, loss, economic loss, 10.1007/s12027-008-0068-1