Basic Questions of Tort Law from a Comparative Perspective

The volume, The Basic Questions of Tort Law from a Comparative Perspective, which will appear not only in English but also in German, firstly contains the critical responses from the perspective of other legal systems to the propositions I put forward in 2012 in the book Basic Questions of Tort Law from a Germanic Perspective. These country reports are written in each case by representatives of the legal system at issue, specifically by Ken Oliphant, Professor in Bristol and currently Director of the Institute for European Tort Law, Vienna, who will deal with English law in particular and, beyond this, with the common law apart from the law of the USA; the latter will be covered by Prof Michael D Green, USA. Eastern Europe is represented twice due to the disparity of the legal systems: Dr Katarzyna Ludwichowska wrote the report on Polish law; Prof Lajos Véks and Prof Attila Menyhrd that on Hungarian law. Prof Olivier Moréteau represents the Romance and Bjarte Askeland the Scandinavian legal family. Finally, Prof Keizo Yamamoto will present the Japanese view. These reports not only describe the legal situation in the respective legal systems, they also make a critical response to the propositions developed within the Germanic legal family, moreover also looking at their possible incorporation or rejection as regards the further development of the particular legal system. On the basis of these extensive responses, some of which are well over 100 pages long, I then provide a comparative law overview. Above all, however, I attempt to elaborate on the basis of the responses and ideas from the various legal families, what they already have in common, where compromise solutions are emerging and where new solutions capable of providing a basis for consensus should be sought after by means of the further advancement of the ideas developed in a legal system. It is nonetheless also important to look at where the fundamental ideas pursued are so different that a uniform standpoint seems currently unattainable. This investigation is intended not only to promote the mutual understanding between the individual legal systems but also to provide a basis for them to gradually grow together by means of both the internal development of the national legal systems and supranational elaboration of bodies of rules.

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