Private Law Theory(Open UvA college)
3254PLT6KY | |||||
6 | |||||
Engels | |||||
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Amsterdam Graduate Law School | |||||
Afdeling Privaatrecht A | |||||
Privaatrecht | |||||
| Aanmelden | |||||
Leerdoelen
After having completed this course, a student will:
- have a good working knowledge of the main theories with regard to a specific subject of private law theory;
- be able to critically assess the strengths and weaknesses of various theoretical approaches with regard to a specific subject of private law theory;
- have the skills and the knowledge to understand, interpret, implement, criticise and judge new developments in the field of private law theory;
- be able to write argumentative texts and academic papers, to present and defend research findings, to actively participate in academic debates on private law theory;
- have an awareness of her or his own limitations with regard to the study of philosophical and theoretical questions.
Inhoud
In this course we will explore the possible implications of leading contemporary theories of political philosophy for some of the main questions that the political institutions of the European Union will have to decide on concerning the future of European contract law. In particular, we will address the questions what is the importance of freedom of contract; whether there is a need to protect weaker parties such as consumers; what should be the role for fundamental rights; whether there is a need for democratic legitimacy; and what is the ideal level of governance, national, European, or other. We will submit each of these questions to five leading theories of contemporary political philosophy. Thus, we explore what a utilitarian, liberal-egalitarian, libertarian, communitarian, deliberative/citizenship idea of European contract law might look like. In this way, leading theories of social justice are linked up to the grand questions of European contract law. Ultimately, an analysis of this kind could lead to arather comprehensive matrix of the main political positions concerning the principal normative questions of European contract law. It is submitted that a political-philosophical analysis of European contract law along these linescould provide a fuller picture than one-dimensional schemes of left-versus-right, diachronic accounts featuring one leading idea at a time, or space-time analyses in terms of national political traditions. The aim of the course is to demonstrate the relevance of social justice theories to some of the main issues concerning the future of European contract and, conversely, to indicate the relevance of (European) contract law to political philosophy. In other words, the aim is to show that whether we live in a just society depends, in part, on the contract law that we have, and, conversely, that contractual justice is, at least in part, a matter of social justice. Thus, it is also meant as a response to those who argue that private law ismerely a matter of individual (notably commutative) justice. Within the actual debate on European contract law, sometimes theories of contemporary political philosophy (or more classical ones) are explicitly invoked in order to justify a certain normative position. More often, however, without any explicit claims being made by anyone, there exist in fact structural similarities between discourses. Instances of such congruence will be provided throughout the course. An important question is whether it is possible and desirable to explain and justify one's concept of European contract law and its future exclusively in terms of one single of these five political ideas of European contract law. The tentative answer in this course is that a pluralist or composite idea of European contract law is more attractive than a monist one.
Aanbevolen voorkennis
Bachelor
Werkvorm
Weekly 2 hours seminar
Contacturen
| Cursusweek | Werkvorm | Uren per week | |
| 1 - 7 | Werkcollege | 2 |
Onderwijstijden
Day-time
Studiemateriaal
See http://blackboard.ic.uva.nl
Toetsvorm
Paper