"This book offers a ground-breaking reading, both comparative and historical, of the structure and transformation of private law in continental Europe. In so doing it reconstructs a hermeneutical praxis that is (it is argued) at the core of private law: the balancing of conflicting interests and normative considerations. It makes three key arguments; firstly that 'balancing' in private law is a not merely an analytical process but instead a form of legal argument. Secondly, in order to truly understand private law, a bottom ...
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"This book offers a ground-breaking reading, both comparative and historical, of the structure and transformation of private law in continental Europe. In so doing it reconstructs a hermeneutical praxis that is (it is argued) at the core of private law: the balancing of conflicting interests and normative considerations. It makes three key arguments; firstly that 'balancing' in private law is a not merely an analytical process but instead a form of legal argument. Secondly, in order to truly understand private law, a bottom-up historical analysis must be adopted. Thirdly, 'balancing' has always been a comparative process within civil law systems and across the civil-common law divide. This is an ambitious and magisterial survey of European private law, which offers innovative analytical tools in order to allow a deep understanding of the evolution of the discipline"--
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