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

El presente estudio centra su atencion en la utilidad y regulacion de la figura de la ventaja injusta que deviene un instrumento eficaz para combatir contratos excesivamente desequilibrados en perjuicio de una de las partes contratantes. El legislador catalan, a raiz de la aprobacion del Libro Sexto del Codigo civil de Cataluna, ha querido dar un paso adelante en cuanto a la prevision de normativas que aspiran a lograr un Derecho contractual con un caracter marcadamente social mediante la introduccion de la ventaja injusta, pionera en el entorno del Estado espanol. La finalidad de esta figura es la de proteger la integridad del consentimiento que se presto apresuradamente y sin plena libertad de eleccion, y solucionar, a su vez, una falta de equivalencia objetiva entre las prestaciones . Para ello ha dado lugar a una institucion autonoma de proteccion de la parte debil que se situa entre la justicia sustantiva y la justicia procedimental. Asimiso, el legislador ha aprovechado la ocasion para refrendar y generalizar la institucion historica de la recision por lesion que permite recuperar el equilibrio economico al que tienden los contratos estructuralmente onerosos.

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Ventaja injusta y protección de la parte débil del contrato

This is the first chapter of the book 'Improving Privacy Protection in the area of Behavioural Targeting.' The book, based on the author's PhD dissertation, discusses how European law could improve privacy protection in the area of behavioural targeting. Behavioural targeting, also referred to as online profiling, involves monitoring people’s online behaviour, and using the collected information to show people individually targeted advertisements. To protect privacy in the area of behavioural targeting, the EU lawmaker mainly relies on the consent requirement for the use of tracking technologies in the e-Privacy Directive, and on general data protection law. With informed consent requirements, the law aims to empower people to make choices in their best interests. But behavioural studies cast doubt on the effectiveness of the empowerment approach as a privacy protection measure. Many people click “I agree” to any statement that is presented to them. Therefore, to mitigate privacy problems such as chilling effects, this study argues for a combined approach of protecting and empowering the individual. Compared to the current approach, the lawmaker should focus more on protecting people.

Improving Privacy Protection in the Area of Behavioural Targeting

La question de la procedure en droit international prive parait de prime abord simple a resoudre tant la competence de la loi du for est empreinte d’evidence. C’est sous l’angle des methodes du droit international prive – et particulierement la methode conflictuelle et la methode des regles materielles – dans le cadre de l’action de l’Union europeenne que la reflexion a ete developpee. La place de cette derniere dans les sources des deux premieres justifie cette position. L’evidence de la regle enoncee ci-dessus s’est rapidement fait ressentir. Elle a pu faire douter de la pertinence du recours a la methode conflictuelle pour resoudre les difficultes que l’institution regionale entend annihiler dans les litiges comportant un element d’extraneite. Mais les difficultes de definition de la categorie procedure retiennent tout aussi rapidement l’attention. Il apparait ainsi un premier champ d’action de l’Union, deja explore certes, mais devant etre complete. Toutefois, l’edification de l’espace judiciaire europeen – car la est l’objectif poursuivi – semble necessiter, de l’aveu meme des autorites europeennes, d’endiguer les disparites procedurales. Ce sont les regles materielles elles-memes qui paraissent, souvent, poser question dans les litiges transfrontieres en rendant difficile, notamment, la libre circulation des decisions. C’est donc vers cette seconde methode du droit international prive que l’Union europeenne a du se tourner. La vocation a agir de l’Union ayant ete etablie, et un rapide etat des lieux de l’acquis ayant ete dresse, il a pu etre recherche les regles materielles qui semblaient necessaires. Au-dela de celles-ci, la methode conflictuelle assure la completude du systeme.

https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-01287961/document

La procédure en droit international privé : recherche en droit de l’Union européenne

This paper explores the impact of product liability on vertical product differentiation when product safety is perfectly observable. In a two-stage competition, duopolistic firms are subject to strict liability and segment the market such that a low-safety product is marketed at a low price to consumers with relatively small harm levels whereas the safer product is sold at a high price to consumers with high levels of harm. Firms' expected liability payments are critically influenced by how the market is segmented, creating a complex relationship between product liability and product differentiation. We vary the liability system's allocation of losses between firms and consumers. Shifting more losses to firms increases the safety levels of both products, but decreases the degree of product differentiation. Some shifting of losses is always socially beneficial, but the optimum may require that some compensable losses stay with the consumers.

https://www.dice.hhu.de/fileadmin/redaktion/Fakultaeten/Wirtschaftswissenschaftliche_Fakultaet/DICE/Discussion_Paper/182_Baumann_Friehe_Rasch.pdf

The Influence of Product Liability on Vertical Product Differentiation

At the beginning of the year, the Draft Common Frame of Reference (DCFR) has been published. The text is the result of the work of a broad range of private law scholars from the Member States of the European Union, and it presents itself as an "academic" document, committed to the precepts of scholarship rather than politics. Notwithstanding its unwieldy name, the text is nothing less than the draft of the central components of a European Civil Code. The following article aims to inform the reader about this milestone in the development of European private law, and to initiate further academic debate about it. Following an overview of the genesis and content of the DCFR (1), the discussion focuses on the question whether, and to what extent, it is based upon consistent and convincing core aims and values (2). The article then proceeds to address, more specifically, the significance of private autonomy, and it examines the extent to which the proposed rules satisfy the requirements of legal certainty and legal clarity (3). Thereafter, the DCFR is measured against the criteria of internal consistency and systematic integrity (4). Also (5) the question is asked whether the Draft critically reflects and convincingly integrates the sources on which it is based (that is the Lando Commission's Principles of European Contract Law and the Acquis Principles, as well as the private law traditions of the Member States). Also deserving of attention is the inclusion of more than 120 definitions of central concepts of private law, which are not to be found in this form or level of detail in either the Lando Principles or the national private laws (6).

The Common Frame of References for European Private Law - Policy Choices and Codification Problems

The Common Frame of Reference for European Private Law—Policy Choices and Codification Problems

The Economics of Harmonization: the Case of Contract Law

If law is to make a difference in the real world, enforcement is crucial. Consequently, enforcement issues have always loomed large in European law. In light of this tradition, the approach of Directive 2013/11/EU on Alternative Dispute Resolution for Consumer Disputes is not without problems. After all, ADR was thought to be an "alternative" to dispute resolution in court, precisely because it did not aim for strict application of the law. The present article analyses the framework set up by the Directive and puts it to the test in the light of law enforcement: will ADR help to improve the enforcement of consumer law in Europe or will it rather dilute the incentives generated by the substantive law? This paper concludes that ADR is an inadequate means of law enforcement.

Private law enforcement through ADR: Wonder drug or snake oil?

The interaction between tort law and liability insurance is a complex problem that is difficult to deal with. This article provides a broad overview by distinguishing two approaches or models of the tort/insurance interface. One is the Deterrence Model in which tort law takes the leading role, whereas insurance is an auxiliary, and at times problematic, device. The alternative approach is the Compensation Model in which tort and insurance switch roles in order to provide optimal compensation to those in need. From there on, it is only a small step to no-fault schemes currently considered in some European countries as a substitute for traditional medical malpractice law.

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Gerhard Wagner

Papers

The Common Frame of References for European Private Law - Policy Choices and Codification Problems

The Common Frame of Reference for European Private Law—Policy Choices and Codification Problems

The Economics of Harmonization: the Case of Contract Law

Private law enforcement through ADR: Wonder drug or snake oil?

Tort Law and Liability Insurance