National, European, or Global

Abstract

This chapter addresses the Europeanization of contract law from a normative perspective: can the Europeanization of contract law be justified? Or are there more convincing reasons why contract law should remain national or become global? Do we perhaps have a moral right to a European civil code? Or, conversely, are we entitled to make our contract law entirely national again? Should the integrity of national legal cultures be respected, or should a (re)nascent European legal culture be fostered? The chapter aims to provide a better explanation of why and how the question of the Europeanization of contract law has been so divisive and why neither the status quo, nor fully undoing the Europeanization of private law, nor indeed a move fast forward towards a European civil code, seem today to be alternatives commanding widespread support.