Foundations of Economic Analysis of Law, by Steven Shavell, 2004, The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 737 pages Steven Shavell has contributed to the foundations of economic analysis of law in different manners According to Posner (2006), he is a member of the third generation of economic analysts of law-Coase, Becker, and Calabresi being the first group, with Posner himself, Landes, and Ehrlich forming the second Shavell has published several books and more than 100 articles on economics and on the economics of law He has contributed to the principal-agent theory (Shavell, 1979b) and, more particularly, to the moral hazard literature (Shavell, 1979a) This book proposes an overview of the fields in the economics of law to which the author has contributed It also covers in detail other fields and many contributions to the literature The emphasis is on theory, but some empirical facts are mentioned The book has twenty-nine chapters in seven parts or sections, a comprehensive list of references (786 references in the References section of the book), and two indexes (authors and subjects) It covers many subjects related to the economic analysis of basic law Particular attention is devoted to the positive analysis of law, although the normative aspect is also well covered The book is addressed to two broad audiences: economists and individuals interested in law with no formal background in economics There is no formal economic analysis in the text (but formal models are sometimes sketched in footnotes) and no detailed discussion of legal doctrine The subjects covered are important for any legal system: laws related to property, accidents, contracts, crimes, and their litigation process Specialized subjects such as labor, bankruptcy, or environmental law are not covered However, for the readers of the Journal of Risk and Insurance, accident law is discussed in detail (one section including five chapters that will be analyzed below) Chapter 1, the introduction to the book, presents the author's basic philosophy with regard to the economics of law He first distinguishes the positive analysis of the economics of law from its normative analysis Using his example for automobile accidents, the positive analysis is concerned with how a liability system affects accidents and litigation expenses, whereas the normative analysis looks at the social desirability of a liability system Two standard and important assumptions are made for the normative analysis First, the normative analysis does not take any of the distributive aspects into account; this is left to the income tax system and other transfer mechanisms Second, the notions of fairness and morality are not integrated in the analysis, although a significant effort is made to do so in part seven of the book The first four parts of the book treat areas related to private law: property law, liability for accidents, contract law, and civil litigation They are called private because they are enforced by the activities or suits of private parties The first of the four parts is devoted to property law Chapter 2 covers the rationale of ownership and the emergence of property rights The chapter defines concepts that are not often discussed in the standard economic literature For example, the author treats property rights, their justification, and their emergence Property rights are themselves divided into two types of rights: possessory rights and transfer rights The justification of property rights is mainly related to incentives: incentives to work, incentives to maintain and improve things, and incentives to transfer things Their emergence occurs when the advantages are greater than the costs of instituting and maintaining them Chapter 3 is devoted to the division of property rights while chapter 4 discusses, in detail, the acquisition and transfer of property rights, including transfer after death Chapter 5 concerns the issues of conflict and cooperation associated with the use of property rights …

Foundations of Economic Analysis of Law

Conceptualising Transnational Corporate Groups for International Criminal Law

The enforcement of EU competition law in cartel cases : seeking effectiveness in divergence

The Politics of Justice in European Private Law intends to highlight the differences between the Member States' concepts of social justice, which have developed historically, and the distinct European concept of access justice. Contrary to the emerging critique of Europe's justice deficit in the aftermath of the Euro crisis, this book argues that beneath the larger picture of the Monetary Union, a more positive and more promising European concept of justice is developing. European access justice is thinner than national social justice, but access justice represents a distinct conception of justice nevertheless. Member States or nation states remain free to complement European access justice and bring to bear their own pattern of social justice.

The Politics of Justice in European Private Law: Social Justice, Access Justice, Societal Justice

The CJEU as a 'laboratory' of comparative analysis : a theoretical and case-based study of the Europeanisation of private law

Although leniency programmes and damages actions, at least to a certain extent, serve the same purpose of increasing compliance with the competition rules, an increasing number of damages actions risk undermining national and EU leniency programmes, because the risk of follow-on damages actions may discourage potential leniency applicants from coming forward. To increase the successful co-existence of leniency programmes and damages actions, the law can interfere at two stages: it can prevent disclosure of leniency applications and it can decrease the risk or the amount of damages to be paid by leniency recipients. This contribution will explain the current rules on these matters and analyse a number of proposals for reform. The analysis will result in a suggestion to introduce at EU level a regime to improve the procedural position of the leniency recipient in proceedings for cartel damages based on the Hungarian model.

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/Delivery.cfm?abstractid=1941692

The Interaction of Leniency Programmes and Actions for Damages

The principles of European Contract Law

On 2 June 2016, the Commission published a Communication containing “A European agenda for the collaborative economy”. The Communication intends to provide non-binding legal guidance and policy orientation on the sustainable development of the collaborative economy. It contains a number of helpful suggestions for example as to when an individual offering services via an online platform is to be regarded as an employee. The advice to ensure a high level of consumer protection while not imposing disproportionate burdens on non-professional service providers can be supported in general. However, it is to be investigated whether the application of many rules of consumer law could not be extended to consumers dealing with such service providers. The Commission’s advice to use trustmarks as an instrument of consumer protection is interesting, but its implementation requires further research. While the Commission is generally very supportive of the collaborative economy, its advice to collaborative platforms to take voluntary action to fight illegal content online may entail the risk of the platform losing the benefit of the hosting exemption.

The Commission’s European Agenda for the Collaborative Economy – (Too) Platform and Service Provider Friendly?

On 16 December 2020, the European Commission delivered on the plans proposed in the European Digital Strategy by publishing two proposals related to the governance of digital services in the European Union: the Digital Services Act (DSA) and the Digital Markets Act (DMA). The much-awaited regulatory reform is often mentioned in the context of content moderation and freedom of expression, market power and competition. It is, however, important to bear in mind the contractual nature of the relationship between users and platforms and the additional contracts concluded on the platform between the users, in particular traders and consumers. Moreover, the monetisation offered by digital platforms has led to new dynamics and economic interests. This paper explores the reform proposed by the European Commission by means of the DSA by touching upon four main themes that will be addressed from the perspective of consumer protection: (1) the internal coherence of European Union law; (2) intermediary liability; (3) the outsourcing of solutions to private parties; and (4) digital enforcement.

/pdf/a-new-order-the-digital-services-act-and-consumer-protection-2j355ustur.pdf

A New Order: The Digital Services Act and Consumer Protection

De ‘rechtshandhavingsfunctie’ van het privaatrecht is de laatste jaren vooral onder de aandacht gebracht door de Europese Commissie die de privaatrechtelijke handhaving (private enforcement) van het mededingingsrecht wil aanmoedigen. Meer bepaald wil de Commissie natuurlijke en rechtspersonen die nadeel ondervinden van mededingingsrechtelijke inbreuken aansporen om hiertegen in rechte op te treden door de nietigheid te vorderen van overeenkomsten in strijd met het mededingingsrecht en vooral door een vergoeding te vorderen van de schade die zij tengevolge van de schendingen van het mededingingsrecht hebben geleden.2 Op deze wijze zouden private (rechts-)personen bijdragen aan de handhaving van het mededingingsrecht, die tot op heden vooral in handen is van de Europese Commissie en de nationale mededingingsautoriteiten. In de mededingingsrechtelijke doctrine wordt uitvoerig gedebatteerd omtrent de wenselijkheid van dit initiatief van de Europese Commissie en omtrent de wijze waarop nader vorm zou kunnen worden gegeven aan de privaatrechtelijke handhaving (zie 2.3). In Nederland breidde deze discussie zich de afgelopen jaren uit tot een algemeen privaatrechtelijk debat over de vraag die het privaatrecht kan en mag spelen bij de rechtshandhaving en hoe dat dient te geschieden.3 In de recente Belgische privaatrechtelijke doctrine is het hieromtrent in vergelijking met Nederland nog relatief stil gebleven. Toch is er ook in België reeds heel wat werk verricht op dit terrein. Bocken publiceerde reeds in de jaren 1970 over de vraag of het aansprakelijkheidsrecht naast of in plaats van het administratief recht kan bijdragen tot het bewerkstelligen van een optimale zorg voor het milieu.4 In de jaren 1980 stelde Stuyck de verhouding tussen het strafrecht en het privaatrecht bij de handhaving van het levensmiddelenrecht

/pdf/privaatrecht-en-rechtshandhaving-11qqv74vx8.pdf

Caroline Cauffman

Papers

The Interaction of Leniency Programmes and Actions for Damages

The principles of European Contract Law

The Commission’s European Agenda for the Collaborative Economy – (Too) Platform and Service Provider Friendly?

A New Order: The Digital Services Act and Consumer Protection

Privaatrecht en rechtshandhaving