- Faculty of Law
Maastricht University
P.O. Box 616
NL-6200 MD Maastricht
The Netherlands
Jan Smits
Maastricht University, Law, Faculty Member
- Jan Smits is Professor of European Private Law at Maastricht University and Dean of the Faculty of Law.edit
This contribution calls for a fundamental rethinking of the foundation of the duty of corporate citizenship. The benefits enjoyed by a legal person, in particular when used as a vehicle to run a listed corporation, come with obligations,... more
This contribution calls for a fundamental rethinking of the foundation of the duty of corporate citizenship. The benefits enjoyed by a legal person, in particular when used as a vehicle to run a listed corporation, come with obligations, not because of some ethical responsibility or a misunderstood noblesse oblige, but because promoting the societal interest is inherent to the purpose of the corporation. Whoever wishes to use the legal person as a vehicle for business activities, with all its associated advantages, thereby also submits to the partly public character of that legal status and thus to the pursuit of public goals. This provides a deeper foundation for corporate social responsibility than the notion of corporate interest, which is strongly related to the actual day-to-day actions of the company and not to the basis for its existence. It is also argued that this should lead to specific binding standards of what corporate citizenship entails. To the extent that such standards cannot be made at the European level, the role of national regulation, and thus of the State, must necessarily increase to protect citizens from the excesses of global capitalism.
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This article provides a short overview of Dutch law. The constitutional law, civil and commercial law and court system of the Netherlands are explained and placed in a broader cultural and comparative context. Attention is paid to e.g.... more
This article provides a short overview of Dutch law. The constitutional law, civil and commercial law and court system of the Netherlands are explained and placed in a broader cultural and comparative context. Attention is paid to e.g. the Dutch Constitution, judicial review, tolerance, the use of Dutch and Frisian in the courts, civil law characteristics, the history of codification, export of Dutch law abroad, the role of the Hoge Raad and the highest administrative courts, judicial discretion and activism, anticipatory interpretation, the post-colonial relationship with Curaçao and the other Caribbean islands, legal education and the role of legal doctrine. The contribution also contains references to literature on Dutch law in English.
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Wat je ver haalt is lekker. Een buitenlands equivalent van dit gezegde bestaat niet en dit zegt het een en ander over onze volksaard. Het is ons liever om inzichten afkomstig van buiten onze landsgrenzen te aanvaarden dan om diezelfde... more
Wat je ver haalt is lekker. Een buitenlands equivalent van dit gezegde bestaat niet en dit zegt het een en ander over onze volksaard. Het is ons liever om inzichten afkomstig van buiten onze landsgrenzen te aanvaarden dan om diezelfde ideeën te accepteren wanneer zij afkomstig zijn van een landgenoot.2 Dit geldt ook voor het recht. In dit artikel zal ik trachten aan te tonen dat de Anglo-Amerikaanse discussie over de rol van beginselen in het recht, zoals die de afgelopen jaren in alle hevigheid wordt gevoerd, voor Nederland in hoge mate achterhaald is en dat het op dwaalwegen voert om de inzichten van auteurs als Dworkin zonder meer op de Nederlandse situatie van toepassing te verklaren. Het continentaal-Europese recht vergt een eigen visie op wat een beginsel is. Nadenken over vragen als deze vergt meer dan
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De auteur geeft de belangrijkste argumenten aan waarom harmonisering van het contractenrecht (via beginselen) onwenselijk is. Resumerend: de wenselijkheid er van met het oog op het economisch belang staat geenszins vast en het invoeren... more
De auteur geeft de belangrijkste argumenten aan waarom harmonisering van het contractenrecht (via beginselen) onwenselijk is. Resumerend: de wenselijkheid er van met het oog op het economisch belang staat geenszins vast en het invoeren van Europese (of mondiale) beginselen zal niet tot uniformiteit leiden en komt deels in strijd met het al bestaande geharmoniseerde recht.
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... V práve sa národy a ich produkty v podobe národnej legislatívy a judikatúry zvyčajne povaujú za základné jednotky analýzy právnej vedy. Spôsob, akým nazeráme na právo, pokiaľ ide o jeho platnosť, vymoiteľnosť alebo legitimitu, je do... more
... V práve sa národy a ich produkty v podobe národnej legislatívy a judikatúry zvyčajne povaujú za základné jednotky analýzy právnej vedy. Spôsob, akým nazeráme na právo, pokiaľ ide o jeho platnosť, vymoiteľnosť alebo legitimitu, je do veľkej miery formovaný touto metódou. ...
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1 October 2016 was a historic date for French law. For the first time since the introduction of the French Civil Code in 1804, a fundamental reform of the codified law of obligations took place. This contribution discusses both the... more
1 October 2016 was a historic date for French law. For the first time since the introduction of the French Civil Code in 1804, a fundamental reform of the codified law of obligations took place. This contribution discusses both the motives for and the contents of this reform. Particular attention is paid to the abolition of causa, the introduction of a rule on changed circumstances, the broadening of the scope of unfair contracts terms and the restraining of the action for specific performance. It is concluded that the reform does not achieve the aims the French government pursued.
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A long-standing rule of family law is that marriage is concluded for an indeterminate period of time. Notwithstanding the possibility to divorce one’s partner after marriage, it is at present impossible to agree upon matrimony for, for... more
A long-standing rule of family law is that marriage is concluded for an indeterminate period of time. Notwithstanding the possibility to divorce one’s partner after marriage, it is at present impossible to agree upon matrimony for, for example, two or five years. This contribution considers whether this is indeed the most appropriate rule to adopt. After an attempt to establish the origins of marriage as a permanent bond in the Western legal tradition, this view is contrasted with the Islamic Mutah and with failed proposals to introduce a fixed-term marriage. The core of the article consist of a discussion of the arguments in favour and against accepting temporary marriage.
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In many parts of the world there is a continuing discussion about the best possible law curriculum and teaching method. Each of these discussions is shaped by the specificities of the country in question. This contribution aims to... more
In many parts of the world there is a continuing discussion about the best possible law curriculum and teaching method. Each of these discussions is shaped by the specificities of the country in question. This contribution aims to generalise from these national debates and identify three main driving forces behind them. The three main drivers identified here are the requirements that the university poses for any type of academic study, the demands of legal practice, and the expectations that society has of the legal profession. These three factors can be balanced in different ways. This is why a much needed differentiation among different types of law schools or law programmes is proposed. Law schools of the future should be much more conscious of the aims they want to achieve and make well-reasoned choices for one type of legal education or the other. The three models discussed in this contribution (the French translation of an article originally published in 2014) are Law as Doctrine, Liberal Law and Legal Engineering.
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People and corporations are increasing held liable in private law for the external effects of their actions, in particular in cases that involve some fundamental aspect of “justice” such as severe violations of labour standards or threats... more
People and corporations are increasing held liable in private law for the external effects of their actions, in particular in cases that involve some fundamental aspect of “justice” such as severe violations of labour standards or threats to the environment. These public interests are traditionally guarded by the state, but are now increasingly enforced by private individuals, in particular in cross-border situations where the injustice takes place in a “far-away” country. This contribution explores what is the potential of contract law in dealing with this “private law justice across borders.” It asks whether the doctrine of privity of contract should be traded in for an approach that better takes the externalities of contracts into account. It is argued that current contract law is ill-suited to deal with this challenge and should adopt new techniques to expand the circle of people contract law seeks to protect.
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Law and popular culture is an exciting topic at the intersection of law and humanities. This booklet, the result of a Maastricht Research Based Learning (MARBLE) project, contains five papers that reflect upon alternative perceptions of... more
Law and popular culture is an exciting topic at the intersection of law and humanities. This booklet, the result of a Maastricht Research Based Learning (MARBLE) project, contains five papers that reflect upon alternative perceptions of justice in popular culture. The papers deal with the law of surrogacy in soap operas, law and musicals, rights for robots in science fiction, the portrayal of law in Erin Brockovich and an inquiry into the principles of contract law in children’s cinema.
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The demise of the Common European Sales Law (CESL) left the European private law community uncertain about the future of European Union efforts towards further harmonisation. This uncertainty has come to an end with the publication, on 9... more
The demise of the Common European Sales Law (CESL) left the European private law community uncertain about the future of European Union efforts towards further harmonisation. This uncertainty has come to an end with the publication, on 9 December 2015, of two new legislative proposals. With these proposals, the European Commission returns to the policy it had embarked upon with the 2011 Consumer Rights Directive, namely one of 'targeted full harmonisation.' Both proposals aim primarily for maximum-harmonisation of specific rules on conformity and contractual remedies in distance sales contracts and in contracts for the supply of digital contents. This editorial briefly discusses the novelties these proposals bring to existing consumer sales law and asks whether they are fit for the purpose they aim to achieve.
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This contribution contains an evaluation of Book VII (Unjustified enrichment) of the Draft Common Frame of Reference (DCFR). It was written as part of the evaluation carried out by the Common Core of European Private Law group in the... more
This contribution contains an evaluation of Book VII (Unjustified enrichment) of the Draft Common Frame of Reference (DCFR). It was written as part of the evaluation carried out by the Common Core of European Private Law group in the context of the Joint Network on European Private Law (CoPECL). The explicit aim of this evaluation is to put the black letter rules of the DCFR to the test by applying them to a set of three hypothetical cases. On the basis of this analysis, several criticisms may be made, which we summarize by making three different points. First, the question of taxonomy is discussed. Secondly, it is questioned whether the DCFR fully grasps the function of the law of unjustified enrichment. Finally, we look into the function of the DCFR and what this function brings with it for dealing with restitutionary claims.
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This paper was written upon request of the JURI-Committee of the European Parliament and deals with the European Commission's Proposal for a Directive on Contracts for the Online and other Distance Sales of Goods of 9 December 2015 (COM... more
This paper was written upon request of the JURI-Committee of the European Parliament and deals with the European Commission's Proposal for a Directive on Contracts for the Online and other Distance Sales of Goods of 9 December 2015 (COM (2015) 635). The paper questions whether the proposed aim of reducing complexity of law is achieved. Its main findings are the following:
-- it must be doubted whether the current proposals will contribute to making the regulatory framework for consumer sales less complicated and costly. The result will rather be that an extra layer of fully harmonised rules for some topics will be added to the existing framework.
-- The proposals contain many clarifications of rights that were already part of the Consumer Sales Directive. These clarifications are highly useful, but should also become applicable to face-to-face sales under the current Consumer Sales Directive.
-- The two proposals adopt different standards for conformity. This is unfortunate. In addition, the proposed standards seem too much geared towards the subjective agreement of the parties instead of towards a more objective conformity standard.
-- Several of the proposed rules will lead to a higher level of protection of consumers in distance contracts. This is evident from the extension of the reversal of the burden of proof of a lack of conformity to two years, the possibility to terminate in case of minor defects and the abolition of the Member States’ discretion to oblige the consumer to notify the seller about a lack of conformity within two months after detecting the defect.
-- Turning the rights provided by the existing CSD into a regime of maximum harmonisation for distance and online sales will contribute to an overall higher level of protection in the EU as a whole, but will naturally oblige some Member States to reduce their existing protection. The consumer can no longer have a free choice of remedies and a direct right to terminate the contract will no longer be allowed. Consumers’ claims in case the defect manifests itself after more than two years in a case in which the consumer could expect the goods to have a longer durability are also no longer possible. These are unfortunate consequences of the Proposal.
-- it must be doubted whether the current proposals will contribute to making the regulatory framework for consumer sales less complicated and costly. The result will rather be that an extra layer of fully harmonised rules for some topics will be added to the existing framework.
-- The proposals contain many clarifications of rights that were already part of the Consumer Sales Directive. These clarifications are highly useful, but should also become applicable to face-to-face sales under the current Consumer Sales Directive.
-- The two proposals adopt different standards for conformity. This is unfortunate. In addition, the proposed standards seem too much geared towards the subjective agreement of the parties instead of towards a more objective conformity standard.
-- Several of the proposed rules will lead to a higher level of protection of consumers in distance contracts. This is evident from the extension of the reversal of the burden of proof of a lack of conformity to two years, the possibility to terminate in case of minor defects and the abolition of the Member States’ discretion to oblige the consumer to notify the seller about a lack of conformity within two months after detecting the defect.
-- Turning the rights provided by the existing CSD into a regime of maximum harmonisation for distance and online sales will contribute to an overall higher level of protection in the EU as a whole, but will naturally oblige some Member States to reduce their existing protection. The consumer can no longer have a free choice of remedies and a direct right to terminate the contract will no longer be allowed. Consumers’ claims in case the defect manifests itself after more than two years in a case in which the consumer could expect the goods to have a longer durability are also no longer possible. These are unfortunate consequences of the Proposal.
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A central question in the debate on corporate social responsibility is to what extent CSR Codes can be enforced among private parties. This contribution argues that this question is best answered by reference to the applicable doctrinal... more
A central question in the debate on corporate social responsibility is to what extent CSR Codes can be enforced among private parties. This contribution argues that this question is best answered by reference to the applicable doctrinal legal system. Such a doctrinal approach has recently regained importance in American scholarship, while it is still the prevailing method of legal analysis in Europe. Applying a doctrinal analysis of CSR Codes allows to make the possibility of private law enforcement, i.e. enforcement by means of contract or tort, dependent on three different elements: the exact type of claim that is brought, the evolving societal standards about the binding nature of CSR Codes, and the normative complexity of the doctrinal system itself. This approach allows to make a typology of cases in which the enforceability of CSR Codes can be disputed. It is subsequently argued that societal standards have not yet reached the stage where the average consumer who buys a product from a retailer can keep that retailer legally liable for violations of the norms incorporated in the code.
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Over the last two hundred years or so, contract law has been mainly national in contents and outlook. This is reflected in the abundance of textbooks on the contract law of national jurisdictions. These textbooks introduce students to the... more
Over the last two hundred years or so, contract law has been mainly national in contents and outlook. This is reflected in the abundance of textbooks on the contract law of national jurisdictions. These textbooks introduce students to the national contract law of their own country in their own language. Next to these traditional books, there is an increasing number of texts available that offer a comparative, European or even global perspective on the law of contract – invariably designed to cater for the needs of students who are already familiar with the fundamentals of contract law. The book of which one chapter is presented here seeks to combine the two: it introduces students to the field of contract law by way of a comparative approach. It assumes that contract law is an international discipline that can be taught on basis of common principles and methods, just like economics, psychology or any other field of academic study. There are two reasons why this approach is adopted.
First, substantive law is no longer the exclusive product of the nation-state and introductory textbooks should reflect this. In particular in the context of the European Union, law is shaped as much by the national legislators and courts of the 28 member states as it is by the European legislature and the Court of Justice of the European Union. At a global scale, the role of private regulation and of the CISG is increasing, as is the potential for choice of the legal regime applicable to the contract. All this reduces the self-evidence of teaching contract law on basis of the intricacies of one national law alone. Most of today’s law students will spend their professional life in a world in which knowledge of only one jurisdiction is not enough.
Second, learning the law is as much about learning a method as it is about mastering the substantive law. It arguably is more important to learn to ‘think like a lawyer’ than it is to know about the details of a court case or a statute that is likely to change anyway. In a similar way as economists do not focus on the study of one particular economy but adopt a method of analysis (‘the economic approach’), law is ideally not regarded as a subject but as a method. In this view, students no longer study German, English or Polish contract law, but simply ‘contract law’ by applying the legal approach towards the questions they are confronted with. This does not mean that the details of, or differences between, various legal systems are not discussed. To the contrary: it is exactly by looking at these similarities and differences among jurisdictions that one learns that much of the law is about exploring and contrasting the implications of conflicting views of what is right. It is this approach of focusing on arguments and policies that is at the core of the book this sample chapter is taken from. National laws are presented as variations on common themes and as alternative ways of dealing with some common problem. This text thus caters to the needs of the international classroom.
First, substantive law is no longer the exclusive product of the nation-state and introductory textbooks should reflect this. In particular in the context of the European Union, law is shaped as much by the national legislators and courts of the 28 member states as it is by the European legislature and the Court of Justice of the European Union. At a global scale, the role of private regulation and of the CISG is increasing, as is the potential for choice of the legal regime applicable to the contract. All this reduces the self-evidence of teaching contract law on basis of the intricacies of one national law alone. Most of today’s law students will spend their professional life in a world in which knowledge of only one jurisdiction is not enough.
Second, learning the law is as much about learning a method as it is about mastering the substantive law. It arguably is more important to learn to ‘think like a lawyer’ than it is to know about the details of a court case or a statute that is likely to change anyway. In a similar way as economists do not focus on the study of one particular economy but adopt a method of analysis (‘the economic approach’), law is ideally not regarded as a subject but as a method. In this view, students no longer study German, English or Polish contract law, but simply ‘contract law’ by applying the legal approach towards the questions they are confronted with. This does not mean that the details of, or differences between, various legal systems are not discussed. To the contrary: it is exactly by looking at these similarities and differences among jurisdictions that one learns that much of the law is about exploring and contrasting the implications of conflicting views of what is right. It is this approach of focusing on arguments and policies that is at the core of the book this sample chapter is taken from. National laws are presented as variations on common themes and as alternative ways of dealing with some common problem. This text thus caters to the needs of the international classroom.
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This paper seeks to obtain a better understanding of the aims and methods of doctrinal legal scholarship. It argues that legal doctrine serves the three main goals of description, prescription and justification and makes clear that many... more
This paper seeks to obtain a better understanding of the aims and methods of doctrinal legal scholarship. It argues that legal doctrine serves the three main goals of description, prescription and justification and makes clear that many methodological choices have to be made in order to pursue these goals. One important finding is that legal doctrine reflects the normative complexity of the law: it offers detailed and sophisticated information about how to deal with conflicting arguments. Stripping the law from this practical knowledge by reducing it to general principles or policies, or by trading it in for economic or empirical analysis, is not helpful. In addition, the doctrinal approach is in many ways the necessary prerequisite for undertaking any other type of analysis of law (such as economic, comparative, empirical or behavioural work). All this contributes to carving out the proper place of legal doctrine in current legal scholarship.
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It is commonly assumed that the size of a country’s population has nothing to do with the structure of the law. The law of larger jurisdictions is supposedly just as simple or complex as the law of smaller jurisdictions. However, this... more
It is commonly assumed that the size of a country’s population has nothing to do with the structure of the law. The law of larger jurisdictions is supposedly just as simple or complex as the law of smaller jurisdictions. However, this hypothesis has never been empirically tested. This is surprising in view of the fact that a thriving field of research in linguistics deals with the relationship between language complexity and the size of the speech community. This research shows that grammatical complexity correlates negatively with the size of the speech community: the bigger the community, the simpler the grammar. The aim of this paper, an experiment in numerical comparative law, is to investigate whether the same is true for the law. The question that it seeks to answer is whether smaller jurisdictions have a more complex law than bigger jurisdictions and, if so, how this could be explained. The material is drawn from both constitutional law and private law.
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This paper reflects upon the future of contract law in Europe. It considers the changing roles of legislatures, courts, academics and private actors as a result of Europeanisation and globalisation. It is both investigated how substantive... more
This paper reflects upon the future of contract law in Europe. It considers the changing roles of legislatures, courts, academics and private actors as a result of Europeanisation and globalisation. It is both investigated how substantive contract law may be affected by future developments (the ‘law of the future’) and how the place of contract law in society as a whole may change (the ‘future of law’). The approach is based upon the premise that if one legal actor becomes less important, other actors can be expected to fill the vacuum, meaning that the roles of the various actors involved in law making are closely interlinked.
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‘Neurolaw’ is rapidly becoming one of the most fascinating fields at the intersection of law and science. The insights that neuroscientists provide us with on the functioning of the human brain are increasingly important to the law. The... more
‘Neurolaw’ is rapidly becoming one of the most fascinating fields at the intersection of law and science. The insights that neuroscientists provide us with on the functioning of the human brain are increasingly important to the law. The main reason for this is that the law is full of presumptions about how and why people act. These presumptions are increasingly questioned by neuroscientists, giving rise to what some have termed a ‘neuro-revolution’ in our thinking about the law. However, it is far from clear what the exact impact of neuro-scientific insights has to be. This contribution considers what the consequences may be for the law of delict. It is argued that neurolaw will not fundamentally change tort law because of the intrinsically normative approach of the law. However, this does not mean that neuro-scientific findings cannot be relevant in dealing with some specific questions in the law of delict. These questions are discussed.
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This contribution critically assesses the present distribution of competences in the area of consumer law. According to Art. 4 TFEU, consumer protection is a shared competence of both the European Union and the member states. Despite the... more
This contribution critically assesses the present distribution of competences in the area of consumer law. According to Art. 4 TFEU, consumer protection is a shared competence of both the European Union and the member states. Despite the apparent success of European consumer law, it is investigated to what extent consumer protection should indeed be a matter for both geographical levels of government. To this end, the starting presumption is that national rules should govern this field because of the diversity that they can protect. The three arguments presented in this sense relate to the economics of federalism, reducing monopolist behavior and experimenting with diversity. Subsequently, two main criteria are proposed which legitimise centralised rule-making: fragmentation (including consumer confidence and novelty as determining factors) and permeability (including negative externalities and race to the bottom as factors). This framework is subsequently applied to two case studies. In case of doorstep selling, the criteria for centralised lawmaking are not fulfilled, and thus centralised action is not justified. However, not the same can be said about Internet shopping, which is considered as a field where the criteria are met. This prompts the need for minimum-harmonisation, combined with a European trustmark.
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The field of legal studies is undergoing rapid changes of a highly diverse nature. Increasing specialization, globalization, the rise of interdisciplinary legal studies, and a growing separation of legal research and teaching prompt the... more
The field of legal studies is undergoing rapid changes of a highly diverse nature. Increasing specialization, globalization, the rise of interdisciplinary legal studies, and a growing separation of legal research and teaching prompt the question: What is the aim and method of legal studies? The approach advocated in this article provides a contextual model of legal scholarship. Its most important feature is that the basis for autonomous legal studies lies in the fact that it offers a method of analysis. Legal studies look at the world through the lens of what people ought to do in law. This puts “Law and …” approaches in context: it is impossible to carry out meaningful interdisciplinary work in the law without giving center stage to the question of what the law ought to be. This article explores the consequences of this “inevitable normativity” of legal studies for future academic research and teaching.
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The distribution of competences among the European Union and the member states ranks high on the political agenda. While the British government is working on a review of the balance of competences between the EU and the UK, the Dutch... more
The distribution of competences among the European Union and the member states ranks high on the political agenda. While the British government is working on a review of the balance of competences between the EU and the UK, the Dutch government recently published a so-called ‘subsidiarity exercise’, aimed at establishing which competences belong at which level of government. This aim of this paper is to investigate how viable criteria can be found for the optimal distribution of competences among the EU and the member states (the ‘who does what’-question). It considers (the fallacies of) the existing literature and then continues to propose a framework for the
optimal assignment of competences that would allow to apply a uniform set of parameters to different policy fields.
optimal assignment of competences that would allow to apply a uniform set of parameters to different policy fields.
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This is the editorial to the special issue of the Maastricht Journal of European and Comparative Law to celebrate the 20th anniversary of its founding. The special issue asks three questions in a variety of different fields: (1) Has... more
This is the editorial to the special issue of the Maastricht Journal of European and Comparative Law to celebrate the 20th anniversary of its founding. The special issue asks three questions in a variety of different fields:
(1) Has there been an innovative use of sources of EU law (especially general principles of EU law) in your field over the last 20 years? If not, why? If yes, what sources (or which general principles) have had a prevalent role?
(2) To what extent has the field of EU law under scrutiny contributed to regulatory innovation for EU governance?
(3) Has there been a reflection, in your field, on how to modernize enforcement mechanisms? What are the key outcomes?
(1) Has there been an innovative use of sources of EU law (especially general principles of EU law) in your field over the last 20 years? If not, why? If yes, what sources (or which general principles) have had a prevalent role?
(2) To what extent has the field of EU law under scrutiny contributed to regulatory innovation for EU governance?
(3) Has there been a reflection, in your field, on how to modernize enforcement mechanisms? What are the key outcomes?
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In many parts of the world there is a continuing discussion about the best possible law curriculum and teaching method. Each of these discussions is shaped by the specificities of the country in question. This contribution aims to... more
In many parts of the world there is a continuing discussion about the best possible law curriculum and teaching method. Each of these discussions is shaped by the specificities of the country in question. This contribution aims to generalise from these national debates and identify three main driving forces behind them. The three main drivers identified here are the requirements that the university poses for any type of academic study, the demands of legal practice, and the expectations that society has of the legal profession. These three factors can be balanced in different ways. This is why a much needed differentiation among different types of law schools or law programmes is proposed. Law schools of the future should be much more conscious of the aims they want to achieve and make well-reasoned choices for one type of legal education or the other. The three models discussed in this contribution are Law as Doctrine, Liberal Law and Legal Engineering.
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The belief in presenting the law by way of comprehensive systematisation by national states seems to be as important today as it was 200 years ago. In this contribution it is investigated whether this belief in codification is still... more
The belief in presenting the law by way of comprehensive systematisation by national states seems to be as important today as it was 200 years ago. In this contribution it is investigated whether this belief in codification is still accurate. It is at least surprising that an institution that was invented more than two centuries ago still has such a prominent place in the (civil) law. It is argued that the most important function of codification, namely to provide information about the law, can today be achieved in a much better way than through state-made systematisations. This calls for a different way of presenting the law to the general audience: not by way of national codification or through legal science, but by creating alternative models of legal information management.
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This brief paper is part of a larger publication on the 'self-sufficiency' of European regulatory private law. The question discussed is whether this is a viable concept to understand the regulatory efforts of the EU that have relevance... more
This brief paper is part of a larger publication on the 'self-sufficiency' of European regulatory private law. The question discussed is whether this is a viable concept to understand the regulatory efforts of the EU that have relevance for private parties. It turns out that the need for 'self-sufficiency' follows from the desire to have ‘stable practices’: it allows people to rely on a set of norms that is publicly recognised as binding on the collectivity. While national jurisdictions can be self-sufficient by emphasising their own values, principles and a coherent system through the State institutions, the European Union has to put the responsibility for ensuring these goods to a greater extent in the hands of private actors.
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The United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG) is the prime example of unification of private law at the global level. With over 75 contracting States that make up for an increasing number of the... more
The United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG) is the prime example of unification of private law at the global level. With over 75 contracting States that make up for an increasing number of the world’s largest economies, the CISG is usually seen as a big success. However, this assessment is largely based on how States perceive the advantages of the CISG. This contribution asks how other actors involved in the legal process (such as commercial parties, attorneys, in house-lawyers and courts) perceive the CISG. To this end, three persistent problems of the CISG are identified: its problematic uniform application by national and arbitral courts, its regular exclusion by parties, and its incompleteness. This calls for recognition that the establishment of a global uniform law is not the only possible way in which international trade can be promoted. It would be equally important to allow parties to make the national jurisdiction of their choice applicable to the contract. The value of the CISG then lies primarily in providing commercial parties with a common frame of reference, allowing them to compare the solutions of the CISG with various national jurisdictions and to act upon this.
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This article investigates how the law is perceived in hip-hop music. Lawyers solve concrete legal problems on basis of certain presuppositions about morality, legality and justice that are not always shared by non-lawyers. This is why a... more
This article investigates how the law is perceived in hip-hop music. Lawyers solve concrete legal problems on basis of certain presuppositions about morality, legality and justice that are not always shared by non-lawyers. This is why a thriving part of academic scholarship deals with what we can learn about laymen’s perceptions of law from studying novels (law and literature) or other types of popular culture. This article offers an inventory and analysis of how the law is perceived in a representative sample of hip-hop lyrics from 5 US artists (Eminem, 50 Cent, Dr. Dre, Ludacris and Jay-Z) and 6 UK artists (Ms Dynamite, Dizzee Rascal, Plan B, Tinie Tempah, Professor Green and N-Dubz). After a methodological part, the article identifies four principles of hip-hop law. First, criminal justice is based on the age-old adage of an eye for an eye, reflecting the desire to retaliate proportionately. Second, self-justice and self-government reign supreme in a hip-hop version of the law: instead of waiting for a presumably inaccurate community response, it is allowed to take the law into one’s own hands. Third, there is an overriding obligation to respect others within the hip-hop community: any form of ‘dissing’ will be severely punished. Finally, the law is seen as an instrument to be used to one’s advantage where possible, and to be ignored if not useful. All four principles can be related to a view of the law as a way to survive in the urban jungle.
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This contribution compares the European harmonisation of intellectual property law (in particular of patent law) with harmonisation in European private law in general. This critical comparison allows lessons to be drawn on what to... more
This contribution compares the European harmonisation of intellectual property law (in particular of patent law) with harmonisation in European private law in general. This critical comparison allows lessons to be drawn on what to encourage and what to avoid in developing the two areas. Next to a comparative discussion of the need for harmonisation and of the used methods, ample attention is paid to the 2011 EU Proposal for unitary patent protection, aiming to create a unified European patent and the parallel effort to create a Unified Patent Court. In contrast with the approach of the European Union towards centralised patent protection, we offer an alternative account towards convergence of patent law. In this competitive model of patent law, the decision to apply for a national, European or unified patent is left to the parties. In addition, parties can not only address the future unified court, but are also allowed to address the national court of their choice. This should stimulate a competition among patent offices and courts to provide a patent protection that is uniform, of high quality, speedy and cheap. This has the potential to lead to ‘convergence through choice’ towards the patent regime that fares best in view of the needs of market actors.
Research Interests:
It is well known that there is a gap between comparative law theory and the way in which comparative lawyers actually compare. This contribution was written for a book that attempts to bridge the gap between theory and practice in... more
It is well known that there is a gap between comparative law theory and the way in which comparative lawyers actually compare. This contribution was written for a book that attempts to bridge the gap between theory and practice in comparative legal studies. It offers a search for the methodological underpinnings of the author’s work in the field of European private law by looking at three research lines: work on uniformity and diversity in law, on how law develops over time and on the changing role of legal institutions in a post-national society.
Research Interests:
Optional legal regimes, such as the Proposal for a Regulation on a Common European Sales Law (CESL), must derive their success from being chosen by parties. This contribution asks on what conditions it is dependent whether parties will... more
Optional legal regimes, such as the Proposal for a Regulation on a Common European Sales Law (CESL), must derive their success from being chosen by parties. This contribution asks on what conditions it is dependent whether parties will choose for an optional regime such as the CESL. This requires a clear view of the added value of so-called vertical jurisdictional competition, of the preferences of business and consumers, and of the choices available to contracting parties when designing their contractual relationship. It is argued that in order to be an attractive competitor on the law market, the proposed CESL must meet three requirements. First, it must be significantly different from existing options by offering more innovative solutions, reflecting an alternative view of contractual justice or offering a wider scope of application. Secondly, parties should be able to easily recognise the benefits of a choice for the CESL, calling for innovative ways of marketing such as user-based rankings. Thirdly, the costs of making the CESL applicable must be low compared to other available options. Only if these requirements are met – which is not the case with the present Proposal – it is avoided that CESL turns into a lemon on the European law market.
Research Interests:
This contribution explores the relationship between (private) law and nationalism from a public choice perspective. Its main point is that the nationalist ideology in law is largely guided by the self-interest of citizens, legislatures,... more
This contribution explores the relationship between (private) law and nationalism from a public choice perspective. Its main point is that the nationalist ideology in law is largely guided by the self-interest of citizens, legislatures, courts and academics. ‘Nationalists’ (those who favour the congruence of state and nation) maximise their chances in life by capitalising on homogeneity: by acting in accordance with the unified norms of the nation-state, they are able to put themselves in a better position. This framework is used to explain the importance of the nationalist view of law in the 19th century. In addition, it allows an analysis of both the question of how to organise private law today and the question of how to explain present resistance against Europeanization. At the normative level, the claim is made that citizens should be allowed to search for community elsewhere, e.g. by opting into European sets of norms (such as the proposed CESL). A possible explanation for resistance against Europeanization is found in the close relationship between engaging in things European and the economic or psychological advantages obtained from this. This is confirmed by a limited survey of the extent to which national academics are active in the debate on European private law, which can be explained by the different incentives universities provide academics with in obtaining tenure and prestige.
Research Interests:
The Proposal for a Common European Sales Law (CESL), published by the European Commission in 2011, proposes to introduce an optional regime for cross-border sale of goods for the European Union. This contribution considers the choices... more
The Proposal for a Common European Sales Law (CESL), published by the European Commission in 2011, proposes to introduce an optional regime for cross-border sale of goods for the European Union. This contribution considers the choices that other actors than contracting parties (legislatures, courts, practitioners and academics) have to make in dealing with the proposed CESL. For national legislatures, the main choices are whether they want to turn the CESL into a real self-standing legal system and whether they want to guarantee the coherence, transparency and competitiveness of the national law. The European legislature has to decide if it wants to make use of CESL as a legislative model, while national and European courts have to find ways to ensure an autonomous interpretation. In so far as legal practitioners are concerned, the CESL will require alternative ways of informing private actors about how the optional regime differs from other (national) legal systems. This calls for a greater role for new technologies in providing legal information. Finally, academics have to decide if they want to use the CESL as a reference text in teaching and research. This is dependent on the relative qualities of the CESL compared with UP, PECL, PESL, DCFR and CISG. Analysis of these choices shows that the actual use of CESL by contracting parties will be highly dependent on the choices that other actors make in designing the legal environment.
Research Interests:
Law is increasingly pluralist, meaning that different claims to legal authority exist at the same time on the same territory. This pluralism raises important questions in the field of (European) private law. The main question discussed in... more
Law is increasingly pluralist, meaning that different claims to legal authority exist at the same time on the same territory. This pluralism raises important questions in the field of (European) private law. The main question discussed in this contribution is a normative one: to what extent can legal pluralism be accepted, or should it even be encouraged? The answer provided entails a radical view of legal pluralism in European private law. This view is based on the idea that people are never necessarily governed by the law of one State or by the norms of one societal group, but are instead allowed to opt out of their ‘own’ set of norms. This puts legal pluralism in a different perspective. While an argument often used against pluralism is that it may endanger the interests of a party being trapped in its own community, the view laid down in this paper avoids this problem: it allows a party to opt out of one community and opt in to another one. The limits of this enhanced principle of party autonomy are found in public policy as understood in the field of private international law.
Research Interests:
Welke bagage geven wij mee aan de jonge, pas afgestudeerde jurist? Is er een boodschap voor de nieuwe generatie rechtsbeoefenaars in de huidige, soms beangstigende en onzekere tijd? Bij gelegenheid van het veertigjarig bestaan van de... more
Welke bagage geven wij mee aan de jonge, pas afgestudeerde jurist? Is er een boodschap voor de nieuwe generatie rechtsbeoefenaars in de huidige, soms beangstigende en onzekere tijd? Bij gelegenheid van het veertigjarig bestaan van de Faculteit der Rechtsgeleerdheid van de Universiteit Maastricht werden deze vragen gesteld aan vijftig nauw met de faculteit verbonden personen. Het resultaat is een kleine koffer met Maastrichtse wijsheid, een Mestreechse wiesheidkalbas. De door de auteurs aanbevolen survival kit of Bildung biedt daarbij inspiratie aan elke jonge jurist – made in Maastricht of niet.
Research Interests: Law and Graduation
Can the law benefit from an evolutionary perspective? This book shows how the idea of survival of the fittest can help explain legal development and the rise and fall of legal institutions. The reader is invited to join in on a journey of... more
Can the law benefit from an evolutionary perspective? This book shows how the idea of survival of the fittest can help explain legal development and the rise and fall of legal institutions. The reader is invited to join in on a journey of discovery in which the world of Darwin is connected to the topics of legal change, convergence of law, legal complexity, law in hip-hop music and the adoption of the price-payment rule. Exploring these five themes from an evolutionary angle indisputably upsets our traditional view of the law, but it does fit the author’s view of academia as a place for cross-disciplinary research steered by curiosity.
Research Interests:
This introduction to private law takes the reader on an intellectual journey through the different facets and dimensions of the field, from the family home to Kuta Beach and from Thomas Piketty to Nina Hagen. This concise book provides an... more
This introduction to private law takes the reader on an intellectual journey through the different facets and dimensions of the field, from the family home to Kuta Beach and from Thomas Piketty to Nina Hagen. This concise book provides an accessible and fresh introduction to private law, presenting the topic as a unified whole of which the main branches – on contract, tort, property, family and inheritance – are governed by conflicts between individual autonomy and countervailing principles. The book stands out as a unique account of how private law allows individuals to optimally flourish in matters of economy, work, leisure, family and life in general.
Research Interests:
One of the most discussed questions in social science of the last decade is to what extent differences in economic development among countries can be explained by differing law and institutions. According to the ‘legal origins’-thesis,... more
One of the most discussed questions in social science of the last decade is to what extent differences in economic development among countries can be explained by differing law and institutions. According to the ‘legal origins’-thesis, the answer is clear: it claims that differences in economic performance are to a large extent dependent on whether a country belongs to the civil law or common law family. Others have severely criticised this thesis. This volume takes stock of the debate and offers an integrated approach that not only takes into account the insights of economics, but also of comparative law and empirics.
This book is published to celebrate the 100th volume in the Ius Commune Europaeum series. Its publication also marks the 20th anniversary of the Maastricht European Institute for Transnational Legal Research (METRO) and the founding of the Maastricht European Private Law Institute (MEPLI).
This book is published to celebrate the 100th volume in the Ius Commune Europaeum series. Its publication also marks the 20th anniversary of the Maastricht European Institute for Transnational Legal Research (METRO) and the founding of the Maastricht European Private Law Institute (MEPLI).
Research Interests:
In numerous fields of law, ranging from family law to company law, private actors increasingly set their own rules, revert to private enforcement of those rules and choose the applicable law. Within each field this tendency has already... more
In numerous fields of law, ranging from family law to company law, private actors increasingly set their own rules, revert to private enforcement of those rules and choose the applicable law. Within each field this tendency has already been scrutinised. Until now, however, few attempts have been made to look at these phenomena together with a view to arriving at conclusions that go beyond one specific field. This edited volume is a first attempt to fill this gap. It is relevant for scholars and practitioners working in the individual fields of law covered (private international law, company law, family law, consumer law and commercial law) as well as for scholars and policy makers trying to grasp the overall nature of the increasing privatisation of the law.
Research Interests:
In recente geschriften hebben Piketty, Pistor en Posner & Weyl gepleit voor een fundamentele herbezinning op de verdeling van rijkdom. In deze bijdrage wordt de vraag besproken welke rol het goederenrecht speelt bij het in stand houden,... more
In recente geschriften hebben Piketty, Pistor en Posner & Weyl gepleit voor een fundamentele herbezinning op de verdeling van rijkdom. In deze bijdrage wordt de vraag besproken welke rol het goederenrecht speelt bij het in stand houden, of versterken, van scheve vermogensgroei én of het goederenrecht een rol kan spelen bij het tegengaan daarvan. Uiteengezet wordt dat het goederenrecht een antwoord heeft op het alom gesignaleerde fenomeen van toenemende vermogensongelijkheid. Dat vereist vooral een relativering van het temporele aspect van eigendom: voortdurende en alomvattende eigendomsrechten kunnen worden ingeruild voor tijdelijke gebruiksrechten.
Research Interests:
Het streven van de universiteit is er mede op gericht om de student de maatschappelijke waarden aan te leren die hij nodig heeft om te kunnen functioneren als een verantwoordelijk en volwaardig burger van de maatschappij. In deze bijdrage... more
Het streven van de universiteit is er mede op gericht om de student de maatschappelijke waarden aan te leren die hij nodig heeft om te kunnen functioneren als een verantwoordelijk en volwaardig burger van de maatschappij. In deze bijdrage wordt nagegaan hoe dit streven aan de universiteit, en meer in het bijzonder aan de juridische faculteit, vorm zou kunnen krijgen (of reeds krijgt). Dit sluit aan bij de discussie over onderwijs in zogenoemd ‘wereldburgerschap’ of global citizenship. Net zoals bij onderwijs over ‘waarden’, is ook daar de vraag hoe dat thema te integreren in het onderwijs.
Research Interests:
Hoe heeft de Romeinsrechtelijke 'prijsbetalingsregel' zich in de afgelopen 2000 jaar ontwikkeld? Nagegaan wordt of een fylogenetische analyse van die regel begrip bijbrengt van die ontwikkeling sinds de Middeleeuwen.
Research Interests:
Deze bijdrage verkent de voordelen van de invoering van een tijdelijk huwelijk. Bepleit wordt dat de wetgever experimenteert met een proefhuwelijk van twee jaar en een huwelijk van zeven jaar.
Research Interests: Family Law and Marriage
1 oktober 2016 was een historische datum voor het Franse recht. Voor het eerst sinds de invoering van de Code Civil in 1804 vond een grondige herziening plaats van het in het wetboek neergelegde verbintenissenrecht. In deze bijdrage wordt... more
1 oktober 2016 was een historische datum voor het Franse recht. Voor het eerst sinds de invoering van de Code Civil in 1804 vond een grondige herziening plaats van het in het wetboek neergelegde verbintenissenrecht. In deze bijdrage wordt ingegaan op de motieven voor en de inhoud van de herziening. Geconcludeerd wordt dat de herziening slechts in beperkte mate brengt wat de Franse wetgever beoogt.
Research Interests:
In deze bijdrage wordt de vraag verkend in welke mate ruimte moet bestaan voor een gefragmenteerd burgerschap. Naar huidig recht is nationaliteit nog altijd in sterke mate een eendimensionaal begrip, historisch het gevolg van de notie dat... more
In deze bijdrage wordt de vraag verkend in welke mate ruimte moet bestaan voor een gefragmenteerd burgerschap. Naar huidig recht is nationaliteit nog altijd in sterke mate een eendimensionaal begrip, historisch het gevolg van de notie dat de burger zich deel moet voelen van één nationale gemeenschap en daarnaar moet handelen om aanspraak te kunnen maken op de rechten die verbonden zijn met zijn nationaliteit. Bepleit wordt dat dit eendimensionale en monolithische begrip van nationaliteit in wordt geruild voor een gefragmenteerd burgerschap. Dit bestaat er in dat – binnen de grenzen die de staat stelt – individuen kunnen kiezen voor de segmenten van burgerschap die het meest aansluiten bij hun eigen preferenties. Dit functioneel en temporeel burgerschap past bij de toegenomen rol van partijautonomie in het internationaal privaatrecht en bij de mogelijkheid van een individuele keuze voor andere dan statelijke normenstelsels.
Research Interests:
Het doel van deze bijdrage is om doel en methode van de doctrinaire benadering van het recht nader te onderzoeken. Al diverse malen is opgemerkt dat hoewel deze benadering al lang bestaat, nog steeds onvoldoende duidelijkheid bestaat over... more
Het doel van deze bijdrage is om doel en methode van de doctrinaire benadering van het recht nader te onderzoeken. Al diverse malen is opgemerkt dat hoewel deze benadering al lang bestaat, nog steeds onvoldoende duidelijkheid bestaat over haar ware aard. Dat noopt tot een beter begrip. Dit is niet enkel van belang om aan niet-juristen te laten zien wat de doctrinaire benadering vermag, maar vooral ook om diegenen die de benadering toepassen voor te lichten over de kern er van.
Research Interests:
In het privaatrecht bestaat geen gebrek aan uitdagingen. Toenemende Europeanisering en globalisering, technologische vooruitgang en een groeiend besef dat het recht meer moet worden ingericht voor de lange termijn doen de vraag rijzen hoe... more
In het privaatrecht bestaat geen gebrek aan uitdagingen. Toenemende Europeanisering en globalisering, technologische vooruitgang en een groeiend besef dat het recht meer moet worden ingericht voor de lange termijn doen de vraag rijzen hoe het privaatrecht van de toekomst er uit zal zien. In deze bijdrage, die de schriftelijke weerslag vormt van een rede gehouden ter gelegenheid van de aanvaarding van de TPR-wisselleerstoel 2014, wordt gespeculeerd op die toekomst. Nagegaan wordt hoe de rol van diverse actoren betrokken bij de rechtsvorming (wetgevers, rechters, rechtsgeleerden en private actoren) mogelijk zal veranderen als gevolg van internationalisering. Bovendien wordt de vraag gesteld of niet ook de plaats van het privaatrecht zelf door internationalisering wordt beïnvloed met als gevolg dat andere ordeningsinstrumenten de rol van het recht overnemen.
Research Interests:
Het doel van deze bijdrage is om na te gaan hoe de nationale wetgever heeft te reageren op de toename van rechtens relevante normenstelsels. Als gevolg van toegenomen Europeanisering, globalisering en privatisering is de nationale... more
Het doel van deze bijdrage is om na te gaan hoe de nationale wetgever heeft te reageren op de toename van rechtens relevante normenstelsels. Als gevolg van toegenomen Europeanisering, globalisering en privatisering is de nationale wetgever immers nog slechts één van de mogelijke normstellers. Veel meer dan in het verleden moet hij zich daarom afvragen of hij aan zet is of dat het stellen (en de eventuele handhaving) van regels aan andere actoren moet worden overgelaten. In deze bijdrage ligt de nadruk op de beleidsmatige gevolgen van deze toenemende complexiteit: nadat in paragraaf 2 verder is ingegaan op het concept van een veelgelaagde rechtsorde, worden in de zes daarop volgende paragrafen evenzovele thema’s verkend waar de nationale wetgever praktisch mee heeft te rekenen. Daarbij wordt steeds onderzocht of dat ook kan leiden tot een ‘aanwijzing’ aan de Nederlandse wetgever.
Research Interests:
It is well-known that the role of the national legislator in setting legally relevant norms is rapidly changing under the influence of increasing Europeanisation, globalisation and privatisation. Today the national legislator is only one... more
It is well-known that the role of the national legislator in setting legally relevant norms is rapidly changing under the influence of increasing Europeanisation, globalisation and privatisation. Today the national legislator is only one of the relevant norm-setters. This contribution considers the role the Dutch legislator sees for itself in this emerging multilevel legal order. To this end, six themes of fundamental importance in a multilevel order are explored: (1) the question when government regulation is to be preferred over private regulation; (2) the question at which level of government (national, European, sub-national or supranational) a topic is preferably dealt with; (3) the role of the national legislator in realising the cognoscibility and coherence of law; (4) the preferred way of implementing EU-directives; (5) the question whether the national legislator must refer to codes of conduct, certification and norms of standards bodies, and if so how; (6) the question whether the national legislator must position its on national law at the international ‘law market.’
Research Interests: Legislation and Wetgeving
De verdeling van bevoegdheden tussen de Europese Unie en de lidstaten staat sterk in de belangstelling. In deze bijdrage wordt ingegaan op de vraag of meer te zeggen valt over wie wat moet doen in Europa. Onderzocht wordt welke bijdrage... more
De verdeling van bevoegdheden tussen de Europese Unie en de lidstaten staat sterk in de belangstelling. In deze bijdrage wordt ingegaan op de vraag of meer te zeggen valt over wie wat moet doen in Europa. Onderzocht wordt welke bijdrage juristen, economen en politicologen tot nu toe aan dit debat hebben geleverd. Vervolgens wordt een aanzet gedaan voor de ontwikkeling van een kader dat kan helpen om de vraag naar de optimale bevoegdheidsverdeling te beantwoorden.
Research Interests:
De verdeling van bevoegdheden tussen de Europese Unie en de lidstaten staat sterk in de belangstelling. In deze bijdrage wordt ingegaan op de vraag of meer te zeggen valt over wie wat moet doen in Europa. Onderzocht wordt welke bijdrage... more
De verdeling van bevoegdheden tussen de Europese Unie en de lidstaten staat sterk in de belangstelling. In deze bijdrage wordt ingegaan op de vraag of meer te zeggen valt over wie wat moet doen in Europa. Onderzocht wordt welke bijdrage juristen, economen en politicologen tot nu toe aan dit debat hebben geleverd. Vervolgens wordt een aanzet gedaan voor de ontwikkeling van een kader dat kan helpen om de vraag naar de optimale bevoegdheidsverdeling te beantwoorden.
Research Interests:
Terwijl de dogmatische benadering van het privaatrecht in Europa onder vuur ligt, beleeft zij in de Verenigde Staten recent een opleving. In deze bijdrage wordt deze beweging van ‘New Private Law’ nader beschouwd.
Research Interests:
Deze bijdrage biedt een inleiding in de hoofdvragen van het Nederlandse overeenkomstenrecht, geschreven voor een studieboek voor eerstejaars rechtenstudenten.
Research Interests:
In deze bijdrage worden drie mogelijke modellen van juridisch onderwijs verkend: Europees/internationaal onderwijs, 'legal engineering' en 'law college.' Bepleit wordt meer pluriformiteit in het juridisch onderwijs en daarmee dat... more
In deze bijdrage worden drie mogelijke modellen van juridisch onderwijs verkend: Europees/internationaal onderwijs, 'legal engineering' en 'law college.' Bepleit wordt meer pluriformiteit in het juridisch onderwijs en daarmee dat universiteiten een keuze dienen te maken voor één van deze modellen.
Research Interests:
This contribution (in Dutch) reflects upon the contribution of critical legal studies to legal debate in the Netherlands. It places the Dutch journal 'Recht en Kritiek' (1975-1997) in a broader comparative context by comparing it to... more
This contribution (in Dutch) reflects upon the contribution of critical legal studies to legal debate in the Netherlands. It places the Dutch journal 'Recht en Kritiek' (1975-1997) in a broader comparative context by comparing it to similar movements abroad. It also makes an attempt to better define what the critical approach to law actually is and asks what its future may be.
Research Interests:
书讯|法律出版社推出《法学的观念与方法》 作者: 法学是一门古老的学科，如今却内外交困，面临再生的危机。法学研究的目的何在？法学有无独特且行之有效的方法？法学在何种程度上是一门独立的学科？斯密茨教授对这些问题的思考清晰而深刻，极富启发性。尽管本书主要是为欧洲读者撰写，但是对于中国的读者来说，书中的论述却在一种特别的意义上与中国的语境高度契合。 ————梁治平（中国艺术研究院中国文化研究所研究员）... more
书讯|法律出版社推出《法学的观念与方法》
作者:
法学是一门古老的学科，如今却内外交困，面临再生的危机。法学研究的目的何在？法学有无独特且行之有效的方法？法学在何种程度上是一门独立的学科？斯密茨教授对这些问题的思考清晰而深刻，极富启发性。尽管本书主要是为欧洲读者撰写，但是对于中国的读者来说，书中的论述却在一种特别的意义上与中国的语境高度契合。
————梁治平（中国艺术研究院中国文化研究所研究员）
本书是一位法律学者所写的关于法学的反思性作品。它试图回答一个古老而常新的问题：法学是一门什么样的学科？面对主要来自社会科学外部视角研究方法对法学自主性的冲击，作者主张要“重新发现研究法律的法学方法”。全书辩理清晰，论证严谨，对理解和超越社科法学（外部视角）与法教义学（内部视角）之间的方法论之争颇有助益，值得每一位想要理解自己所从事之事业的性质和方法的法律人一读。
————郑戈（上海交通大学凯原法学院教授）
一团乱麻终于找到了终端线头，顺着它我们可以看清，所谓法教义学与社科法学之间的争吵，究竟来自何种动因，眩目的学术风景下隐藏着又是何其简单的道理，以及坚持法教义学的理由，除了说到底并非太重要的学科独立性问题，其实就是法律实践托付给法学者的任务。这部小书，即使无法为我们这场特色方法论之争给出最为贴切的出路，也至少会帮助我们尽早摆脱低端无谓的语词游戏。在文字泛滥、信息过剩的时代，这何其宝贵。
————黄卉（北京航空航天大学法学院教授）
作者就像一名围棋高手，能在错综复杂的局面中发现被大家忽视的盲点，从而使整个局面豁然开朗。此盲点就是法学不是一门描述性学科，而是一门实证-规范性学科。法学的目的是为个人在法律上应做什么和不应做什么提供论据，因此其并非探求问题解决的真，而是探求问题解决的好。这种思维方式的转变将对法学的研究路径、创新程度、评估方法，以及对法学教育产生深远影响。本书言简意赅、视角独特，同时信息量极为丰富，非常值得一读。
————方新军（苏州大学王健法学院教授）
此书告诉我们，在遭受了各式各样狂风暴雨般的攻击之后，法教义学还是幸存了下来，这绝非偶然。作者揭示了这一事实，坚持为法学的规范性立场进行辩护（路径不同于传统的描述性的内部视角），并赋予其超越本国法的一般性。对于正在接受方法论规训的我辈中国法律人，这本书的翻译出版正当其时。
————张翔（中国人民大学法学院教授）
作者:
法学是一门古老的学科，如今却内外交困，面临再生的危机。法学研究的目的何在？法学有无独特且行之有效的方法？法学在何种程度上是一门独立的学科？斯密茨教授对这些问题的思考清晰而深刻，极富启发性。尽管本书主要是为欧洲读者撰写，但是对于中国的读者来说，书中的论述却在一种特别的意义上与中国的语境高度契合。
————梁治平（中国艺术研究院中国文化研究所研究员）
本书是一位法律学者所写的关于法学的反思性作品。它试图回答一个古老而常新的问题：法学是一门什么样的学科？面对主要来自社会科学外部视角研究方法对法学自主性的冲击，作者主张要“重新发现研究法律的法学方法”。全书辩理清晰，论证严谨，对理解和超越社科法学（外部视角）与法教义学（内部视角）之间的方法论之争颇有助益，值得每一位想要理解自己所从事之事业的性质和方法的法律人一读。
————郑戈（上海交通大学凯原法学院教授）
一团乱麻终于找到了终端线头，顺着它我们可以看清，所谓法教义学与社科法学之间的争吵，究竟来自何种动因，眩目的学术风景下隐藏着又是何其简单的道理，以及坚持法教义学的理由，除了说到底并非太重要的学科独立性问题，其实就是法律实践托付给法学者的任务。这部小书，即使无法为我们这场特色方法论之争给出最为贴切的出路，也至少会帮助我们尽早摆脱低端无谓的语词游戏。在文字泛滥、信息过剩的时代，这何其宝贵。
————黄卉（北京航空航天大学法学院教授）
作者就像一名围棋高手，能在错综复杂的局面中发现被大家忽视的盲点，从而使整个局面豁然开朗。此盲点就是法学不是一门描述性学科，而是一门实证-规范性学科。法学的目的是为个人在法律上应做什么和不应做什么提供论据，因此其并非探求问题解决的真，而是探求问题解决的好。这种思维方式的转变将对法学的研究路径、创新程度、评估方法，以及对法学教育产生深远影响。本书言简意赅、视角独特，同时信息量极为丰富，非常值得一读。
————方新军（苏州大学王健法学院教授）
此书告诉我们，在遭受了各式各样狂风暴雨般的攻击之后，法教义学还是幸存了下来，这绝非偶然。作者揭示了这一事实，坚持为法学的规范性立场进行辩护（路径不同于传统的描述性的内部视角），并赋予其超越本国法的一般性。对于正在接受方法论规训的我辈中国法律人，这本书的翻译出版正当其时。
————张翔（中国人民大学法学院教授）
Research Interests:
Japanese translation by Kazuhiko Taya and Mark Kawakami of Contract Law: a Comparative Introduction, published with Shinzansha Publisher 2021.