BOOK: David DEROUSSIN, Une introduction aux droits européens. La notion d’obligation et le contrat (Paris: Société de législation comparée, 2026), 792 p. ISBN 9782365171656

 

(image source: Hi-D)

Abstract:

Depuis le XVIᵉ siècle, le contrat s’impose comme l’un des piliers de l’ordre juridique européen, façonnant les échanges, les sociétés et les États. Mais comment cette institution fondamentale s’est-elle construite, transformée et adaptée à travers les frontières et les époques dans l’espace européen ? De l’héritage romain aux codifications modernes, en passant par les traditions juridiques nationales et les circulations transnationales, cet ouvrage, après avoir évoqué la notion d’obligation, retrace l’histoire comparée des droits des contrats en Allemagne, Angleterre, Belgique, Espagne, France, Italie, Portugal et Suisse jusqu’à nos jours. En croisant les approches historiques, juridiques et comparatistes, il espère mettre au jour les convergences et les divergences qui ont marqué l’évolution des droits contractuels en Europe, en soulignant l’influence persistante du droit romain, mais également les innovations apportées par les codifications nationales, ainsi que les dynamiques d’harmonisation à l’œuvre depuis le XXᵉ siècle. À travers des analyses thématiques, ce livre, publié avec le soutien de l’Université Jean Moulin-Lyon 3 et du Centre lyonnais d’histoire du droit, éclaire les défis contemporains du contrat, entre globalisation des échanges et affirmation des particularismes juridiques. Une synthèse inédite, accessible aux juristes, aux historiens et à tous ceux qui s’intéressent à la construction juridique de l’Europe et souhaitent comprendre les racines et l’avenir du droit des contrats en Europe.

On the author:

David Deroussin, Professeur à l’Université Lyon-III, Membre senior de l’Institut universitaire de France.

(source: LGDJ) 

BOOK: Bruno RODRÍGUEZ-ROSADO, Rocío CARO GÁNDARA & Antonio LEGERÉN-MOLINA (eds.), Cause and Consideration: Exploring the Foundations of Contract Law (Oxford: Hart Publishing, 2025), pp. 293+xix, ISBN: 978-1509971398, £70.00

(Source: Hart Publishing)

ABOUT THE BOOK:

This book provides a comprehensive study of two parallel notions of civil and common law: cause and consideration. It does this in three ways; with historical, comparative, and functional perspectives. Aspects of cause and consideration are hotly contested by contract lawyers and this book will bring clarity by looking at the English and Continental positions. Key areas of focus include: enforceability, questions of legality and morality, contractual justice, and the correction of unjustified property displacements. Bringing together a team of experts, the book discusses (in some cases for the first time in English), complex questions of both academic and practical importance.

ABOUT THE EDITORS:

Bruno Rodríguez-Rosado is Professor of Law at the University of Málaga, Spain.

Rocio Caro is Professor of Law at the University of Málaga, Spain.

Antonio Legerén-Molina is a Professor of Law at the University of A Coruña, Spain.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS:

Gregor Albers, Francisco-Javier Andrés Santos, John Cartwright, Wojciech Dajczak, David Deroussin, Olivier Deshayes, Birke Häcker, David Ibbetson, Nils Jansen, Juan-Pablo Murga, João de Oliveira Geraldes, Francesco Patti, Rocío Caro, Antonio Legerén-Molina, Bruno Rodríguez-Rosado.

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Part I. Origins and Historical Development

1. Roman Origins: Typicity of Contracts in Roman Law, FJ Andrés, University of Valladolid

2. Medieval Development, João de Oliveira Geraldes, University of Lisbon

3. The Rise and Fall of Consideration in English Law, D Ibbetson, University of Cambridge

4. The Cause in Modern Doctrine and Early Codifications, D Deroussin, University of Lyon

5. The Decline of Cause, W Dajczak, University of Poznan

Part II. National Reports

6. The Role of Consideration in English Law, J Cartwright, University of Oxford

7. The French Development, O Deshayes, University of Paris-Nanterre

8. The Use of Cause of Contract in Spanish Law, A Legerén-Molina, University of Coruña

9. Germany and its Rejection of the Cause, G Albers, University of Linz

10. The Italian Variant, F Patti, Bocconi University of Milan

Part III. Functions of Cause and Consideration

11. Cause, Consideration and the Enforceability of Promises, B Rodríguez-Rosado, University of

Málaga

12. Cause and the Control of Legality and Morality of Contracts, JP Murga, University of Seville

13. Cause, Consideration and Frustration of Contract, R Caro, University of Málaga

14. Cause, Consideration and Unjust Enrichment, B Häcker, University of Bonn

Part IV. Final Conclusions

15. Rethinking Cause and Consideration, N Jansen, University of Münster

BOOK: Kane ABRY, The Construction, Sources, and Implications of Consensualism in Contract. Lesson from France (Studies in the History of Law and Justice, ed. Mortimer SELLERS & Georges MARTYN; 27) (Heidelberg: Springer, 2023), X + 317 p. ISBN 978-3-031-37640-5, € 128

 

(image source: Springer)

Abstract:

This book offers a comprehensive introduction to French contract law with a focus on the role of consent and the evolution of consensualism, considering its immediate historical sources. The book provides a clear, in-depth, and analytical discussion of the contingency of consensualism and how the development of consensual ideas across time and transnational geographical settings has specifically underpinned modern French contract law, which has inspired other legal systems and continues to do so. It also challenges the macro-narratives of European legal history and redefines consensualism so that it may be properly understood, addressing its manifest contemporary misinterpretations. Thorough, engaging, well-structured and inventive, there is no other English-language scholarly work that offers a similar analysis. “This monograph makes an evident contribution to the field by offering an original interpretation of several provisions in the Code Civil which relate to the law of contract. The author demonstrates an impressive grasp of Latin, French and English sources as well as knowledge of Roman law, legal history, and contemporary French law. It is well-referenced and offers an extensive bibliography”.  – Dr Stephen Bogle, Senior Lecturer in Private Law, University of Glasgow, UK “The author brings a critical perspective to bear throughout the monograph and develops a clear and quite sophisticated position on the interaction between consensualism and formalism in Roman and French law and the intervening European ius commune”.  – Prof Hector MacQueen, Emeritus Professor of Private Law, University of Edinburgh, UK

 On the author:

Dr. Kane Abry is a lawyer and teacher at the University of Edinburgh. He has several publications. His research interests include EU competition law, commercial law, international law, constitutional law, and legal history. He has a particular interest in contract law, especially regarding formation, interpretation, and breach in a historical and comparative context.

Read the book here. 

BOOK: Stephen BOGLE, Contract Before Enlightenment: The Ideas of James Dalrymple, Viscount Stair, 1619-1695 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2023), 304 pp, ISBN 9780192884961, £90

 

(image courtesy: Oxford University Press)

Book description: 

Contract Before the Enlightenment represents a fresh investigation of what was then a ground-breaking approach to the law of contract written by James Dalrymple, Viscount Stair (1619-1695), lauded by some as the founding father of Scots law.

As a judge and public figure, Stair was at the forefront of both political and legal developments in Scotland from the 1640s until he died in 1695. This study explores the development and reception of his ideas relating to the law of contract on the eve of the Scottish Enlightenment. It is here that Stair's legal legacy is most evident, and where the imprint of Calvinism, Aristotelianism, and Protestant natural law can be found within Scottish legal thought.

In his legal treatise, the Institutions of Law of Scotland you find a sophisticated, innovative, and novel synthesis of Roman law with Stair's own Calvinist variant of a Protestant natural law theory. Yet it is also possible to find, once the theistic premises of Stair's natural law theory are dropped, the beginnings of a form of Scottish moral philosophy that rose to prominence in the eighteenth century.

Undoubtedly, Stair is not only a key figure within Scottish legal history but also significant to how we understand the transition of Scottish intellectual life from the execution of Charles I to the emergence of the Scottish Enlightenment.

Table of contents: 

Introduction: Transforming the Law of Contract
1:Contractual Thought Before Stair
2:Roman Law as a Source of Contract Law
3:A New Basis for the Law of Contract
4:Standing by the Faith of Pactions and Promises
5:Stair's 'Plain Method' and Structure
6:Human Action, the Will, and Freedom
7:Freedom, Liberty, and Conscience
8:Freedom to Contract in the Seventeenth Century
9:The Reception of Stair's Contractual Thought

About the author: 

Stephen Bogle is a Senior Lecturer in Private Law at the University of Glasgow. He graduated from the University of Edinburgh in 2005 with an MA (Mental Philosophy) before commencing his LLB at the University of Strathclyde (2007). After qualifying as a solicitor in Scotland (2010), he returned to the University of Edinburgh to do both his LLM by Research (2012) and PhD (2016).

More information can be found here. 

BOOK: Filippo ROSSI (ed.), Consenso e dissenso nelle codificazioni europee. Scioglimento e mantenimento del vincolo contrattuale tra storia giuridica, diritto privato e comparazione (Pisa: Edizioni ETS, 2021), ISBN: 978-8-8467-6-2610

(Image source: Edizioni ETS)

ABOUT THE BOOK
Il volume raccoglie gli atti del Convegno COnsenso e DIssenso nelle Codificazioni Europee (Milano, 2021) e fa parte di un più ampio progetto di ricerca che analizza, in prospettiva multidisciplinare e diacronica, il mantenimento e lo scioglimento del vincolo contrattuale attraverso la prospettiva del recesso unilaterale.
Con la sua capacità di affievolire la vincolatività dell’accordo e di operare oltre e al di là del diritto comune, il recesso apre una serie di questioni, molte delle quali irrisolte, che si innervano nel rapporto tra principi generali e paradigmi operativi di un sistema contrattuale messo alla prova dal continuo evolvere dei rapporti socio-economici. Di fronte alla complessità delle dinamiche ingenerate dal recesso, il volume offre una lettura ‘plurale’ che possa contribuire al dibattito tra adesione alla termination ed ‘eterni ritorni’ del modello giudiziale, tra ricorso al recesso e regolazione del mercato, tra adeguatezza dei rimedi e gestione delle sopravvenienze, senza trascurare gli aspetti legati alla crisi pandemica.

ABOUT THE EDITOR
Filippo Rossi è ricercatore di Storia del diritto presso la Facoltà di Giurisprudenza dell’Università degli Studi di Milano, ove insegna Storia del diritto medievale e moderno e Storia dei diritti umani. Si è occupato di storia del lavoro, pubblico e privato, nonché di storia del diritto delle obbligazioni, con particolare riferimento allo scioglimento del rapporto contrattuale. Tra le sue pubblicazioni: Il cattivo funzionario nel Regno Lombardo-Veneto (Giuffrè, 2013) e La costruzione giuridica del licenziamento (Giuffrè, 2017).

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Introduzione (Giovanni Chiodi)
• PROFILI STORICO-GIURIDICI
• ‘… Dissensu contrario dissolvi potest’: spunti dal diritto romano (Francesca Pulitanò)
• Consenso vs dissenso. Itinerari sullo scioglimento unilaterale del contratto in età moderna e contemporanea (Filippo Rossi)
• PROFILI DI DIRITTO CIVILE
• La dichiarazione stragiudiziale di risoluzione per inadempimento come forma di recesso (Matteo Ambrosoli)
• Il recesso del consumatore tra regolazione del mercato e tutela del soggetto debole (Andrea Dalmartello)
• Il contratto tra forza di legge e forza maggiore. Il problema delle sopravvenienze alla luce delle recenti normative emergenziali epidemiologiche (Arturo Maniaci)
• Le clausole sulle sopravvenienze nei contratti di compravendita di partecipazioni sociali (Ilaria Maspes)
• PROFILI DI DIRITTO COMPARATO
• Pacta sunt servanda. Il dibattito europeo dopo la pandemia (Carlo Masieri)
• PROFILI DI DIRITTO DEL LAVORO
• Consenso e dissenso nel diritto del lavoro: brevi note introduttive (Maria Teresa Carinci)
• Consenso e dissenso nell’emergenza pandemica: la prospettiva del diritto del lavoro (Francesca Marinelli)

More information can be found here.

BOOK: Bruce W. FRIER, A Casebook on the Roman Law of Contracts (Oxford: OUP, 2021). ISBN 9780197573211, 99.00 USD

 

(Source: OUP)

OUP is publishing a new casebook on the Roman law of contracts.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Roman contract law has profoundly influenced subsequent legal systems throughout the world, but is inarguably an important subject in its own right. This casebook introduces students to the rich body of Roman law concerning contracts between private individuals.

In order to bring out the intricacy of Roman contract law, the casebook employs the case-law method--actual Roman texts, drawn from Justinian's Digest and other sources, are presented both in Latin and English, along with introductions and discussions that fill out the background of the cases and explore related legal issues. This method reflects the casuistic practices of the jurists themselves: concentrating on the fact-rich environment in which contracts are made and enforced, while never losing sight of the broader principles upon which the jurists constructed the law.

The casebook concentrates especially on stipulation and sale, which are particularly well represented in surviving sources. Beyond these and other standard contracts, the book also has chapters on the capacity to contract, the creation of third-party rights and duties, and the main forms of unjustified enrichment. What students can hope to learn from this casebook is not only the general outlines and details of Roman contract law, but also how the jurists developed such law out of rudimentary civil procedures.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Bruce W. Frier is John and Teresa D'Arms Distinguished University Professor of Classics and Roman Law at the University of Michigan. His publications include A Casebook on the Roman Law of Delict, A Casebook on Roman Family Law (with Thomas A. J. McGinn), and The Modern Law of Contracts (with J. J. White). He is also the general editor of the annotated translation of The Codex of Justinian.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Preface for Students

Introduction to Roman Contract Law

Chapter I. Capacity to Contract

Chapter II. Stipulation: A Formal Contract

Chapter III. Contracts Created Through Delivery (“Real Contracts”)

Chapter IV. Sale: A Contract Created Through Informal Agreement

Chapter V. Other Consensual Contracts: Problems in Execution

Chapter VI. Filling in the Gaps: Contracts Created Through One Party's Performance

Chapter VII. Third Party Rights and Responsibilities

Chapter VIII. Quasi-Contract

Glossary

Short Biographies of the Jurists

Suggested Further Reading

Index of Sources

 

More info here

BOOK: Yunsheng LIU, The History of the Contractual Thoughts in Ancient China (Cham: Springer, 2020). ISBN 978-981-15-5767-5, EUR 106.99

(Source: Springer)

Springer is publishing a history of contractual thought in ancient China.

ABOUT THE BOOK

This book explores the intellectual history of contract law in ancient China by employing archaeological and empirical methodologies. Divided into five chapters, it begins by reviewing the origin of the contract in ancient China, and analyzing its name, primary form, historical premise and functions. The second chapter discusses free will and lawfulness in the establishment of a contract, offering insights into the impact of contracts on social justice. In turn, the third chapter addresses the inner core of the contract: validity and liability. This allows readers at all levels to identify the similarities and differences between contracts from different eras and different parts of the world, which will also benefit those pursuing comparative research in related fields. Chapters four and five offer a philosophical exploration of contract history in ancient China, and analyze key aspects including human nature and ethical justice.

More info here

BOOK: Gregor ALBERS et al., Causa Contractus: Auf der Suche nach den Bedingungen der Wirksamkeit des Vertraglichen Willens (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2020).

(Source: Mohr Siebeck)

Mohr Siebeck is publishing a book on historical and comparative approaches to the “causa contractus” in different European legal traditions.

ABOUT THE BOOK

European legal tradition uses the notion of causa or la cause both to identify a contract's underlying purpose and to address the reasons for its enforcement. By combining a historical analysis of the causa doctrine with comparative studies of various national systems, this volume seeks to promote a common understanding of Europe's legal heritage and to present proposals for its further development. Contributions are in German, French, Italian and English, summarized by introductory chapters in English.

ABOUT THE EDITORS

Gregor Albers ist Akademischer Rat auf Zeit am Institut für Römisches Recht und Vergleichende Rechtsgeschichte an der Universität Bonn.

Francesco Paolo Patti ist Professore associato der Universität Bocconi in Mailand.

Dorothé Perrouin-Verbe ist Wissenschaftliche Assistentin am Max-Planck-Institut für ausländisches und internationales Privatrecht in Hamburg und Doktorandin an der Universität Paris II-Panthéon-Assas.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Teil 1: Dogmengeschichte / The History of an Idea

Gregor Albers: Introduction – Tommaso dalla Massara: Die causa des Vertrages im Denken des Aristo: zu den Ursprüngen einer Idee – Arnaud Paturet: Réflexions sur des archétypes socio-anthropologique de la cause contractuelle – Martin Schermaier: Die Rolle der causa bei der Überwindung des Typenzwangs durch die mittelalterlichen Juristen – Klaus Kowalski: Die causa des Vertrags im frühen Naturrecht – Céline Combette: La cause de Grotius au Code Napoléon – Emmanuelle Chevreau: La cause du Code civil de 1804 à la réforme du droit des obligations de 2016 – Andrea Maria Garofalo: Il ruolo della causa del contratto in Italia tra il 1865 e il 1942 – Francesca Bartolini: La causa dal codice del 1942 ai giorni nostri – Gregor Albers: Deutschland und die causa des Vertrages: vom Code Civil bis zum BGB – Birke Häcker: Causa und Consideration – ein historischer Dialog

Teil 2: Vergleich / Comparison
1. Wirksamkeitsvoraussetzungen / Requirements of Valid Contracts

Dorothée Perrouin-Verbe: Introduction – Elena Giannozzi: Le caractère contraignant des contrats en droit romain classique – Samuel Fulli-Lemaire: Le rôle de la cause au sein des conditions d'efficacité de la volonté contractuelle – Ralf Treibmann: Wirksamkeitsvoraussetzungen des Vertrags im deutschen Recht – Andrea Maria Garofalo/Francesco Paolo Patti: La causa come requisito essenziale del contratto – Kristin Boosfeld: Äquivalente der causa beim Vertragsschluss im englischen Recht

2. Unerwartete Umstände / Unexpected Circumstances

Francesco Paolo Patti: Introduction – Manuel Grasso: Accordo, causa e sopravvenienze: contratto e realtà nel diritto romano – Dorothée Perrouin-Verbe, L'evenement imprévu et le bouleversement de l'équilibre contractuel en droit francais – Gregor Albers: Der Einfluss unerwarteter Ereignisse auf den Vertrag nach deutschem Recht – Francesco Paolo Patti: Causa e sopravvenienze nel diritto italiano – Francesco Mezzanotte: Scopo del contratto e doctrine of frustration

Teil 3: Europäisches Vertragsrecht der Zukunft / Future European Contract Law
1. Nationale Aussichten / National Prospects

Gregor Albers/Francesco Paolo Patti/Dorothée Perrouin-Verbe: Introduction – Thomas Genicon, L'avenir de la cause - Elena Bargelli, Il futuro della causa. Prospettiva italiana – Horst Ehmann, Eine deutsche causa -Lehre – Simon Whittaker, Purpose of contract

2. Proposals

Gregor Albers/Francesco Patti/Dorothée Perrouin-Verbe: Introduction – Samuel Fulli-Lemaire: La cause comme raison d'être du contrat, entre finalité et équilibre – Andrea Maria Garofalo: Speech acts e causa concreta – Ralf Treibmann, Assumer les causae – pour une analyse vectorielle en droit comparé

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BOOK: Paolo ASTORRI, Lutheran Theology and Contract Law in Early Modern Germany (ca. 1520-1720) (Leiden-New York: Brill, 2019). ISBN 978-3-657-70150-6, $146.00

(Source: Brill)

Brill has published a new book on the influence of Lutheran thought on Early Modern German contract law.

ABOUT THE BOOK

It is clear that the Lutheran Reformation greatly contributed to changes in theological and legal ideas – but what was the extent of its impact on the field of contract law?

Legal historians have extensively studied the contract doctrines developed by Roman Catholic theologians and canonists; however, they have largely neglected Martin Luther, Philip Melanchthon, Johann Aepinus, Martin Chemnitz, Friedrich Balduin and many other reformers. This book focuses on those neglected voices of the Reformation, exploring their role in the history of contract law. These men mapped out general principles to counter commercial fraud and dictated norms to regulate standard economic transactions. The most learned jurists, such as Matthias Coler, Peter Heige, Benedict Carpzov, and Samuel Stryk, among others, studied these theological teachings and implemented them in legal tenets. Theologians and jurists thus cooperated in resolving contract law problems, especially those concerning interest and usury.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Paolo Astorri is currently Research Associate at the KU Leuven Faculty of Law in Belgium

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction

Pages: 1–13

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Christian Spirituality and Law: Developments and Sources

Care for the Souls before the Reformation and in the Early Modern Roman Catholic World

Pages: 17–46

The Engagement of the Lutheran Theologians with Contract Law: Principles and Literature

Pages: 47–110

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A Biblical Framework for Contract Law: Basic Elements

The Conceptualization of Agreements

Pages: 113–151

The Seventh Commandment: The Lawfuln and Right Use of Contracts

Pages: 152–185

The Eighth Commandment: Contractual Fidelity

Pages: 186–257

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Selected Issues from Particular Types of Contract

Sale, Lease and Restitution

Pages: 261–323

Lending and the Interest Prohibition

Pages: 324–429

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From Lutheran Theology to Legal Practice

The Dispute of Regensburg (1587)

Pages: 433–489

The Contribution of the Jurists

Pages: 490–555

General Summary

Pages: 556–573

Concluding Remarks

Pages: 574–583

More info with Brill