Peter Hanau, Heinz-Dietrich Steinmeyer and Rolf Wank, Handbuch des Europäischen Arbeits- und Sozialrechts

Abstract

It is well known that there is no shortage of comprehensive monographies on European labour law and social law in Germany; as examples dealing with European labour law, mention should be made of the monographies by Fuchs and Marhold, by Blanpain, Schmidt and Schweibert, and by Müller, as well as the comprehensive contribution of Birk to the Münchener Handbuch zum Arbeitsrecht. As far as European social law is concerned, the opus of Eichenhofer and the commentary edited by Fuchs provide considerable insight into the determinants of European law for the application of German law. While secondary European social law has alway focused in particular on the co-ordination of various social benefits, European labour law, determined by Directives, has fast gained importance in the last few years and increasingly influences the legal relationship between the parties to employment contracts. Evidence of the growing relevance of the Community framework is the recently published Handbuch by Hanau, Steinmeyer and Wank. In more than 1,300 pages the authors provide a comprehensive and impressive insight into European labour law and social law and, at the same time, overcome what, from a European point of view, is the dubious division into labour law on the one hand and social law on the other.