Papers by Francisco de Elizalde
Enforcement and Effectiveness of Consumer Law, 2018
The Spanish Constitution (Article 51) enshrines consumer protection as one of the country’s princ... more The Spanish Constitution (Article 51) enshrines consumer protection as one of the country’s principles of social and economic policy. The objective of such policy, to this respect, is to ensure the protection of safety, health and economic interests of consumers through the adoption of effective measures. It is also established in the Constitution that public authorities shall promote the information and education of consumers, and foster their organisations.
El presente estudio es un analisis del modo en que, en la actualidad, se construye el contenido d... more El presente estudio es un analisis del modo en que, en la actualidad, se construye el contenido del contrato en el Derecho espanol, en relacion con la utilidad del objeto ?finalidad practica particular, de sustancial relevancia-. En el Capitulo Primero se examinan los preceptos del Codigo Civil que determinan si la utilidad del objeto se incorpora o no al contenido del contrato, como regimen general de nuestro ordenamiento. En el mencionado cuerpo legal la solucion depende del tipo de obligacion ?dar, hacer o no hacer- y de la consideracion del objeto ?generico o especifico- sobre el que la misma recae, por lo que el capitulo se estructura a partir de estos extremos. En el Capitulo Segundo, se examina la primera gran via de transformacion que experimenta la construccion del contenido contractual, por la cual el sujeto obligado a dar una cosa asume una garantia contractual objetiva por su utilidad. Se intenta determinar el criterio que justifica la imposicion normativa de esa garanti...
SSRN Electronic Journal, 2015
SSRN Electronic Journal, 2014
Revue Européenne de Droit de la Consommation, 2022
Tbis article purports to determine tbe potential ef EU consumer lawfor automated eriforcement. To... more Tbis article purports to determine tbe potential ef EU consumer lawfor automated eriforcement. To tbis end, it explores empirical data on automation in tbe European Legal Tecb market for tbe litigation ef consumer and otber claims. Against tbis backdrop, tbe paper tries to identify wbat enbances automation ef tbe law and its barriers. Tbe main claim tbat tbe paper makes is tbat tbe suitability ef legal rules for automated eriforcement depends not only on tbe tecbnological investment but, importantly, on bow tbose rules are drcifted. Based on empirical data and jollowing a tbeoretical assessment ef tbe relationsbip between law and tecbnoloay, tbe article jrames tbe uneven suitability ef EU consumer law for automation
Revista de Derecho Civil, 2021
La Directiva (UE) 2019/2161 reforma la Directiva 2005/29/CE, sobre prácticas comerciales desleale... more La Directiva (UE) 2019/2161 reforma la Directiva 2005/29/CE, sobre prácticas comerciales desleales (DPCD), e introduce un nuevo art. 11bis por el que se conceden a los consumidores afectados los remedios de indemnización de daños y perjuicios, reducción del precio y resolución del contrato. La regulación de estos remedios se difiere a los Estados miembros, que han de cumplir con los principios de equivalencia y efectividad del Derecho europeo. La armonización de las acciones que se conceden a los consumidores puede conllevar efectos sustanciales para los Derechos internos debido a las peculiaridades de la DPCD. En especial, el uso del estándar jurídico del «consumidor medio» como parámetro de deslealtad de una práctica comercial. A diferencia del Derecho privado tradicional, la DPCD recurre a un criterio abstracto de imputación. La importancia de la reforma se constata al enlazar las características de la DPCD con la noción objetiva de consumidor que emana del Derecho europeo y que ignora circunstancias personales de las partes. Todo ello demarca los límites que los legisladores de los Estados miembros han de respetar al transponer la Directiva (UE) 2019/2161 a los Derechos nacionales.
in T Tridimas and M Durovic, New Directions in European Private Law , 2021
This chapter claims that EU law is establishing general rules for the formation of contracts by f... more This chapter claims that EU law is establishing general rules for the formation of contracts by following a radically new approach to procedural fairness. Agreement, the core element in contract formation, is being transformed by becoming standardised as it ignores the characteristics of the contracting parties. The transformation results from the use of legal standards to determine valid contract formation. Those legal standards include the ‘average consumer’ and the ‘average retail (investment) client’, which ignore individual knowledge, expertise and causation – a radical shift from traditional contract law. MEUCL treats all members of the class alike. It is claimed here that this trans- formation is occurring despite the recurrent affirmation that EU law is without prejudice ‘to contract law and, in particular, to the rules on the validity, formation or effect of a contract’
Las Medidas Preventivas De Conflictos Juridicos En Contextos Economicos Inestables 2014 Isbn 978 84 942709 1 8 Pags 829 844, 2014
Forthcoming in: The Cambridge Handbook of Lawyering in the Digital Age, 2021
Unlike the more individualised approach of traditional law firms, Legal Tech companies operating ... more Unlike the more individualised approach of traditional law firms, Legal Tech companies operating in litigation pre-select the types of claims they handle. Specialisation makes the management of a large portfolio possible and suitable for automation. The pre-selection of claims is also important in respect of access to justice as non-selected claims remain under-redressed.
The option that Legal Tech companies give for certain claims, with their corresponding applicable laws, could reveal important data on the relationship between law and automation. Some claims could be more suitable than others for automation depending on the laws applicable to them. In fact, the argument that this paper makes is that legal rules in many cases do not meet the needs of automation and that the quality of the drafting of each law determines its fate vis-à-vis automation. This argument is made against the backdrop of litigation, a contextualisation that is relevant because it involves legal reasoning, which is probably one of the most difficult activities to automate.
To achieve the aim of understanding the relationship between law and automation, it was deemed necessary to conduct a survey on Legal Tech companies involved in the litigation of consumer and small value claims. Information from participants in that market was relevant for the purpose of gathering data on the reasons underlying the selection of claims and on the impact of law on the automation of legal services. The target population of the survey included all Legal Tech companies in the five largest markets for legal services in Europe (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK). Those countries hail from a variety of legal families (common law and civil law of Germanic and Romanistic traditions, with all the caveats applicable to this classification), which provides a rich and diverse legal background to test the suitability of law for automation.
The paper presents the main findings of the survey before conducting a qualitative assessment of the data collected, with a focus on law and automation.
Control of Price Related Terms in Standard Form Contracts
National Report (Spain) for the XX General Congress of the International Academy of Comparative L... more National Report (Spain) for the XX General Congress of the International Academy of Comparative Law. Forthcoming in Y. Atamer & P. Pichonnaz, Control of Price Related Terms in Standard Form Contracts, Springer.
Common Market Law Review, 2018
A case note on CJEU C-154, 307 & 308/15, Francisco Gutiérrez Naranjo v. Cajasur Banco SAU; Ana Ma... more A case note on CJEU C-154, 307 & 308/15, Francisco Gutiérrez Naranjo v. Cajasur Banco SAU; Ana María Palacios Martínez v. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA (BBVA) and Banco Popular Español SA v. Emilio Irles López and Teresa Torres Andreu, Judgment of the Court of Justice (Grand Chamber) of 21 December 2016, EU:C:2016:980.
An earlier draft of the case note published in (2018) 55 CMLR, 1595-1618
(Forthcoming in a book by Evelyne Terryn and Bert Keirsbilck).The purpose of this chapter is to a... more (Forthcoming in a book by Evelyne Terryn and Bert Keirsbilck).The purpose of this chapter is to analyse whether Private law could determine the fate of the Circular Economy. The chapter will first assess the legal relationship that the service creates between the supplier and the consumer. This relationship establishes a contractual bond in which the quality of performance is at stake. Next, the chapter moves on to the complex proprietary consequences of the service, an issue that is aggravated in the context of real estate. The erga omnes effects of property rights justify the chapter’s focus on the supplier-customer relationship but also on the interaction of third parties with the goods deployed in the service. Lastly, the chapter addresses an issue that affects both the contracting parties and third parties: non-performance and insolvency.
InDret, 2014
El trabajo analiza la novedosa regulación de las obligaciones de medios y de resultado en la Prop... more El trabajo analiza la novedosa regulación de las obligaciones de medios y de resultado en la Propuesta de Código Mercantil (PCM), que incide directamente en los contratos de servicios. Para ello, estudia previamente la validez actual de la mencionada y controvertida clasificación, respecto de la cual se aprecia un renovado interés. Sobre esta base, se valora críticamente la regla general de la PCM en la materia, sugiriendo algunas reformas que la doten de una mayor utilidad práctica en la labor de determinar el alcance vinculante de una obligación de hacer. Asimismo, se estudia la aplicación del binomio obligaciones de medios/obligaciones de resultado a los contratos mercantiles particulares de la PCM.
The paper analyzes the regulation of the «obligations of skill and care» and the «obligations to achieve a result» in the Proposal of a new Commercial Code (PCC), which directly affects the service contracts. To this end, the paper first studies the validity of this controversial classification, in respect of which there is a renewed interest. On this basis, the work assesses the general rule of the PCC and suggests some reforms in order to improve its practical usefulness, in the task of determining the scope of a binding obligation to do. In addition to this, the application of the pairing «obligations of skill and care» and «obligations to achieve a result» to the special commercial contracts of the PCM is analyzed.
One of the main inroads to the so-called Classic Contract Law has been made by implied terms impo... more One of the main inroads to the so-called Classic Contract Law has been made by implied terms imposing a certain quality on the subject matter of contracts, an outcome that has been achieved by resorting to a variety of legal sources and tools. Modernization and harmonization of European Contract Law, to this respect, has mainly focused on sales contracts (as an archetype to others), including the requirement of conformity in its terms. The article deals with the concept of conformity and assesses its profound implications to traditional notions of Contract Law. As in many European legal systems the principle of conformity is restricted to certain types of sales, it is necessary to furtherly deepen in national Law to assess the existence of equivalent requirements to conformity whenever it does not apply. To this end, the work undertakes a Comparative Law perspective following a realistic and functional methodology. As a central instrument in the modernization of Contract Law, the article assesses the desirability of generalizing the principle of conformity to all contracts, a position that, from a legal and economic perspective, is not recommended. The relationship between freedom of contract and reasonable expectations of the parties is an underlying tension to this matter in respect of which the present work proposes a solution. Résumé: L'une des principales percées à le soi-disant Droit classique du contrat a été faite par des clauses implicites imposant une certaine qualité sur l'objet du contrat, un résultat qui a été obtenu par le recours à une variété de sources et d'instruments juridiques. La modernisation et l'harmonisation du droit européen des contrats, à cet égard, a porté principalement sur le contrat de vente (comme un archétype pour les autres), y compris l'exigence de conformité dans son contenu. L'article traite de la notion de conformité et évalue ses implications profondes aux notions traditionnelles du droit des contrats. Comme dans de nombreux systèmes juridiques européens, le prin-cipe de conformité est limité à certains types de ventes, il est nécessaire d'approfondir en droit national pour évaluer l'existence d'exigences équivalentes à la conformité à chaque fois qu'il ne s'applique pas. À cette fin, le travail engage une perspective comparative suivant une méthodologie réaliste et fonctionnelle. En tant qu'instrument central de la modernisation du droit des contrats, l'article évalue l'opportunité de généraliser le principe de conformité à tous les contrats, une position qui, du point de vue juridique et économique, non est recommandé. La relation entre la liberté 71 contractuelle et les attentes raisonnables des parties est une tension sous-jacente à cette question à l'égard duquel le présent ouvrage propose une solution. Zusammenfassung: Einer der Haupteingriffe in das sogenannte klassische Vertragsrecht ist durch implizite Vertragsbestandsteile gelungen wodurch eine gewisse Qualität in den Vertragsinhalt eingebracht wurde. Dies ist durch den Rückgriff auf verschiedene Rechtstraditionen und Rechtsmechanismen erreicht worden. Die Modernisierung und Harmonisierung des europäischen Vertragsrechts hat sich, in diesem Zusammenhang, vor allem auf Kaufverträge konzentriert (als ein Vorreiter für andere Arten von Verträgen), inklusive auf die Voraussetzung der Vertragsmäßigkeit. Dieser Artikel behandelt das Konzept der Vertragsmäßigkeit und untersucht seine tiefgründigen Implikationen auf traditionelle Ansichten des Vertragsrechts. Da in vielen europäischen Rechtssystemen der Grundsatz der Vertragsmäßigkeit auf bestimmte Kaufarten beschränkt ist, wird es notwen-dig sein nationale Rechtssysteme genauer zu untersuchen um die Existenz äquivalenter Voraussetzungen der Vertragsmäßigkeit zu beurteilen, falls dieser Grundsatz nicht anwend-bar ist. Daher untersucht diese Arbeit die Problemstellung von einer komparativen Perspektive des Rechts und folgt eine realistische und funktionelle Methodologie. Als zentrales Instrument in der Modernisierung des Vertragsrechts, erforscht dieser Artikel die Eignung der Generalisierung des Grundsatzes der Vertragsmäßigkeit für alle Vertragsarten, wodurch eine Stellungnahme geboten wird, die von einem rechtlichen und ökonomischen Standpunkt nicht empfohlen wird. Der Zusammenhang zwischen der Vertragsfreiheit und angemessener Erwartungen der Vertragsparteien bewirkt eine Spannung zu dieser Problemstellung, zu welcher dieser Artikel eine Lösung bietet.
The influence that advertising has on contemporary society is undeniable. Its importance transcen... more The influence that advertising has on contemporary society is undeniable. Its importance transcends the original boundaries of its area of activity to boldly assume a position as a sort of “magical wise woman-cum-mother of our time” , with a presence in and hold over a multitude of aspects of people’s lives.
Within a legal context, advertising was seen until a few decades ago as an alien phenomena in respect of the general theory of Contract Law and, in particular, to its content. The incidents produced by eventual discrepancies between advertising and reality – as a result of a contract – were commonly resolved through the notion of pre-contractual liability .
The reason why advertising – or, more correctly, the information advertised – remained on the margin of contractual terms stems from a voluntarist concept of contracts . This notion has been gradually whittled away, not only in the area of consumer contracts but also in other specific (non-consumer) ones, allowing terms to be extended in order to include the information advertised.
In this incorporation of advertising into the content of the contract, we should stipulate the cause and scope of its binding nature, as well as its interaction with the sources of contractual terms. We will discuss this, in that order.
Este trabajo presenta el «contenido del contrato» como un concepto central en la teoría moderna d... more Este trabajo presenta el «contenido del contrato» como un concepto central en la teoría moderna del Derecho contractual. Con una metodología comparada, se parte de las soluciones clásicas de los principales ordenamientos jurídicos europeos para, luego, adentrarse en su evolución. Respecto de esta última se constata una tendencia a la convergencia (con notoria influencia del Common Law) respecto de los efectos que genera el contenido contractual, destacándose la recepción de la noción de «garantía» en el Derecho continental, incluido el Derecho español. Asimismo, el trabajo examina el resurgimiento de las fuentes no voluntarias del contenido del contrato, cuyo resultado principal, en este campo, es la creciente vinculación por la información precontractual, a través de diversos cauces jurídicos. Sobre esta base, se realiza un análisis de los Principios Latinoamericanos de Derecho de los Contratos.
Drafts by Francisco de Elizalde
A spectre is haunting the globe. It is not the spectre of communism to which Marx and Engels refe... more A spectre is haunting the globe. It is not the spectre of communism to which Marx and Engels referred. It is the spectre of smart contracts. These are contracts whose execution is automated, excising human intervention. There is even the pretension that they can circumvent judicial control. The purpose of this manifesto is to raise concern about the ambitions of technocrats to get rid of the law. Technological innovation is welcome. Following good practices, it improves living conditions. This is not contested here. Instead, the manifesto disagrees with the subtle challenge to the rule of law that smart contracts pose. Under the cover of efficiency, smart contracts may affect rights of the contracting parties as well as those of third parties. As they stand, smart contracts are lawless as they aim to operate at the margins of the law. Lawless, not illegal – the latter is fact dependent. Smart contracts have not reached maturity yet. Their design is capable of evolving in order to make them law abiding. To this respect, artificial intelligence is called to play an active role as it could combine efficiency with the law. Therefore, the manifesto does not only address lawyers but also technical experts. The joint work of these groups of stakeholders should be enhanced. The manifesto is a public declaration of aims. It is not a research paper – although hopefully it might trigger some.
Books by Francisco de Elizalde
Cambridge University Press, 2021
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Papers by Francisco de Elizalde
The option that Legal Tech companies give for certain claims, with their corresponding applicable laws, could reveal important data on the relationship between law and automation. Some claims could be more suitable than others for automation depending on the laws applicable to them. In fact, the argument that this paper makes is that legal rules in many cases do not meet the needs of automation and that the quality of the drafting of each law determines its fate vis-à-vis automation. This argument is made against the backdrop of litigation, a contextualisation that is relevant because it involves legal reasoning, which is probably one of the most difficult activities to automate.
To achieve the aim of understanding the relationship between law and automation, it was deemed necessary to conduct a survey on Legal Tech companies involved in the litigation of consumer and small value claims. Information from participants in that market was relevant for the purpose of gathering data on the reasons underlying the selection of claims and on the impact of law on the automation of legal services. The target population of the survey included all Legal Tech companies in the five largest markets for legal services in Europe (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK). Those countries hail from a variety of legal families (common law and civil law of Germanic and Romanistic traditions, with all the caveats applicable to this classification), which provides a rich and diverse legal background to test the suitability of law for automation.
The paper presents the main findings of the survey before conducting a qualitative assessment of the data collected, with a focus on law and automation.
An earlier draft of the case note published in (2018) 55 CMLR, 1595-1618
The paper analyzes the regulation of the «obligations of skill and care» and the «obligations to achieve a result» in the Proposal of a new Commercial Code (PCC), which directly affects the service contracts. To this end, the paper first studies the validity of this controversial classification, in respect of which there is a renewed interest. On this basis, the work assesses the general rule of the PCC and suggests some reforms in order to improve its practical usefulness, in the task of determining the scope of a binding obligation to do. In addition to this, the application of the pairing «obligations of skill and care» and «obligations to achieve a result» to the special commercial contracts of the PCM is analyzed.
Within a legal context, advertising was seen until a few decades ago as an alien phenomena in respect of the general theory of Contract Law and, in particular, to its content. The incidents produced by eventual discrepancies between advertising and reality – as a result of a contract – were commonly resolved through the notion of pre-contractual liability .
The reason why advertising – or, more correctly, the information advertised – remained on the margin of contractual terms stems from a voluntarist concept of contracts . This notion has been gradually whittled away, not only in the area of consumer contracts but also in other specific (non-consumer) ones, allowing terms to be extended in order to include the information advertised.
In this incorporation of advertising into the content of the contract, we should stipulate the cause and scope of its binding nature, as well as its interaction with the sources of contractual terms. We will discuss this, in that order.
Drafts by Francisco de Elizalde
Books by Francisco de Elizalde
The option that Legal Tech companies give for certain claims, with their corresponding applicable laws, could reveal important data on the relationship between law and automation. Some claims could be more suitable than others for automation depending on the laws applicable to them. In fact, the argument that this paper makes is that legal rules in many cases do not meet the needs of automation and that the quality of the drafting of each law determines its fate vis-à-vis automation. This argument is made against the backdrop of litigation, a contextualisation that is relevant because it involves legal reasoning, which is probably one of the most difficult activities to automate.
To achieve the aim of understanding the relationship between law and automation, it was deemed necessary to conduct a survey on Legal Tech companies involved in the litigation of consumer and small value claims. Information from participants in that market was relevant for the purpose of gathering data on the reasons underlying the selection of claims and on the impact of law on the automation of legal services. The target population of the survey included all Legal Tech companies in the five largest markets for legal services in Europe (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK). Those countries hail from a variety of legal families (common law and civil law of Germanic and Romanistic traditions, with all the caveats applicable to this classification), which provides a rich and diverse legal background to test the suitability of law for automation.
The paper presents the main findings of the survey before conducting a qualitative assessment of the data collected, with a focus on law and automation.
An earlier draft of the case note published in (2018) 55 CMLR, 1595-1618
The paper analyzes the regulation of the «obligations of skill and care» and the «obligations to achieve a result» in the Proposal of a new Commercial Code (PCC), which directly affects the service contracts. To this end, the paper first studies the validity of this controversial classification, in respect of which there is a renewed interest. On this basis, the work assesses the general rule of the PCC and suggests some reforms in order to improve its practical usefulness, in the task of determining the scope of a binding obligation to do. In addition to this, the application of the pairing «obligations of skill and care» and «obligations to achieve a result» to the special commercial contracts of the PCM is analyzed.
Within a legal context, advertising was seen until a few decades ago as an alien phenomena in respect of the general theory of Contract Law and, in particular, to its content. The incidents produced by eventual discrepancies between advertising and reality – as a result of a contract – were commonly resolved through the notion of pre-contractual liability .
The reason why advertising – or, more correctly, the information advertised – remained on the margin of contractual terms stems from a voluntarist concept of contracts . This notion has been gradually whittled away, not only in the area of consumer contracts but also in other specific (non-consumer) ones, allowing terms to be extended in order to include the information advertised.
In this incorporation of advertising into the content of the contract, we should stipulate the cause and scope of its binding nature, as well as its interaction with the sources of contractual terms. We will discuss this, in that order.