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The Approach to European Law in Domestic Legislation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 March 2019

Stefan Leible

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National legislators approach European law very differently. The reason for these differences lies partly in the historical development of their individual legal cultures. If one pursues a broad interpretation of the term ‘legal culture’ one takes especially into account the style of law and the attitude toward it. Thus legal culture can be defined as the Continental civil law countries’ ideal of a “concise, but comprehensive codification by which the judge can derive solutions for all possible cases through teleological interpretation;” whereas the common law rather limits this concept to “special laws which are interpreted very narrowly by the courts and accordingly are designed by the legislator to the last detail”. Furthermore, one could include the status of a judge, the nature of legal discourse, or the training of legal professionals, as well as the respect accorded to the law by the population when defining the concept of ‘legal culture'.

Type
Private Law
Information
German Law Journal , Volume 4 , Issue 12 , 01 December 2003 , pp. 1255 - 1275
Copyright
Copyright © 2003 by German Law Journal GbR 

References

1 Basedow, , Zeitschrift für Europäisches Privatrecht 1996, 379, 380.Google Scholar

2 See e.g. Friedman, , Law & Soc. Rev. Vol. 6, 1969, 19. According to Friedman, legal culture comprises “the values and attitudes which bind the system together. And which determine the place of the legal system in the culture of the society as a whole. What kind of training and habits do lawyers and judges have? What do people think of law? Do groups or individuals willingly go to court? For what purposes do people turn to lawyers; for what purposes do they make use of other officials and intermediaries? Is there respect for law, government and traditions? What is the relationship between class structure and the use and non-use of legal institutions? What informal social controls exist in addition to or in place of formal ones? Who prefers which kind of controls, and why?”Google Scholar

3 See e.g. §§ 859-937 of the Austrian ABGB, Artt. 1173-1469 of Italian codice civile, Artt. 1088-1314 of the Spanish Código Civil, and Artt. 1109-1369 of the French code civil or Artt. 3: 1–3: 326 of the Dutch Nieuw Burgerlijk Wetboek.Google Scholar

4 For the constitutional importance of predictability of law see Decision of the German Federal Constitutional Court (BVerfGE) Vol. 60, pp. 253, 268: “Freedom requires the reliability of the legal system because freedom means above all the possibility to arrange one's own way of life. An essential condition for freedom is that circumstances and factors which may enduringly influence one's plans and their execution, particularly in the light of their governmental effects, must be foreseeable.”Google Scholar

5 For a thorough analysis of the development of European consumer law and ist perspectives see Micklitz, http://www.germanlawjournal.de/pdf/Vol04No10/PDF_Vol_04_No_10_1043-1064_European_Micklitz.pdf Google Scholar

6 For a critique and a possible solution see Kieninger/Leible, Europäische Zeitschrift für Wirtschaftsrecht 1999, 37, 39.Google Scholar

7 A shocking example is Art. 3 of EC Directive 2000/31 of 8 June 2000 on certain legal aspects of information society services, in particular electronic commerce, in the Internal Market (Directive on electronic commerce), O.J. EC 2000 L 178/1, which was implemented by the “Gesetz über rechtliche Rahmenbedingungen für den elektronischen Geschäftsverkehr” (Bundesgesetzblatt (BGBl.) 2001 I, p. 3721) nearly unchanged into § 4 Teledienstegesetz (TDG). So that the discurs on principle of origin, its legal nature and its impact continues on the national level. For the principle of origin see Ahrens, Computer und Recht 2000, 835; Fallon/Meeusen, Revue critique de droit international privé Vol. 91, 2002, 435; Fezer/Koos, Praxis des Internationalen Privat- und Verfahrensrechts 2000, 349; Grundmann, Rabels Zeitschrift für ausländisches und internationales Privatrecht Vol. 67, 2003, 246; Halfmeier, Zeitschrift für Europäisches Privatrecht 2001, 837; Leible in Neue Entwicklungen in der Dienstleistungs- und Warenverkehrsfreiheit (Nordhausen ed., 2002), 71; Mankowski, Zeitschrift für Vergleichende Rechtswissenschaft, Vol. 100, 2001, 137; Mankowski, Computer und Recht 2001, 630; Mankowski, Europäisches Wirtschafts- und Steuerrecht 2002, 401; Nickels, Der Betrieb 2001, 19; Ohly, Gewerblicher Rechtsschutz und Urheberrecht International 2001, 899; Sack, Wettbewerb in Recht und Praxis 2001, 1408; Spindler, Zeitschrift für Rechtspolitik 2001, 203; Spindler, Zeitschrift für das gesamte Handelsrecht und Wirtschaftsrecht Vol. 165, 2001, 324; Spindler, Rabels Zeitschrift für ausländisches und internationales Privatrecht Vol. 66, 2002, 633; Thünken, Praxis des Internationalen Privat- und Verfahrensrechts, 2001, 15.Google Scholar

8 See e. g. Fernabsatzgesetz (BGBl. 2000 I, p.887), Verbraucherkreditgesetz (BGBl. 2000 I, p. 940), Gesetz über den Widerruf von Haustürgeschäften und ähnlichen Geschäften (BGBl. 2000 I, p. 955), Teilzeit-Wohnrechte-Gesetz (BGBl. 2000 I, p. 957), AGB-Gesetz (BGBl. 2000 I, p. 946).Google Scholar

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10 E. g. Art. 2a of the Directive on standard terms in consumer contracts, Art. 2 No. 2 of the Directive on distance contracts, Art. 2 of the Directive on time sharing, Art. 1 (2a) of the Directive on sale of consumer goods and Art. 2d of the Directive concerning the distance marketing of consumer financial services.Google Scholar

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12 See Dreher, , Juristenzeitung 1997, 167; for a current resume of the critique of the concept of the consumer from a law and economics perspective see Haupt, http://www.germanlawjournal.de/pdf/Vol04No11/PDF_Vol_04_No_11_1137-1164_Private_Haupt.pdf Google Scholar

13 Reich, , Juristenzeitung 1997, 609.Google Scholar

14 Reich, /Micklitz, , Europäisches Verbraucherrecht, 4th ed. (2003) No. 1.38.Google Scholar

15 Kieninger/Leible (Note 5), 39.Google Scholar

16 Directive 97/7/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 May 1997 on the protection of consumers in respect of distance contracts, O.J. EC 1997 L 144/19.Google Scholar

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20 See Art. 5 of the Directive on door-to-door sales, Art. 6 (1) of the Directive on distance contracts, Art. 5 No. 1 of the Directive on time sharing.Google Scholar

21 See, on the one hand, Art. 6 (1) of the Directive on distance contracts and, on the other, Art. 5 (1) of the Directive on door-to-door sales.Google Scholar

22 § 1 (1) HTWG and § 3 (1) FernAbsG.Google Scholar

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24 § 4 (1) 1 FernUSG.Google Scholar

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26 Art. 5 of the Directive on time sharing, Art. 6 (1) of the Directive on distance contracts.Google Scholar

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28 § 3 (1) 3 FernAbsG.Google Scholar

29 § 7 (2) VerbrKrG.Google Scholar

30 § 2 HTWG.Google Scholar

31 § 5 (2) 2 TzWrG.Google Scholar

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34 BT-Drs. 14/9266, p. 45; critical of the decision of the legislator Wildemann, Verbraucher und Recht 2003, 90, 91.Google Scholar

35 Moreover Art. 6 (2) of the Directive on unfair terms in consumer contracts, Art. 8 of the Directive on time sharing, Art. 8 (1) of the Directive on certain aspects of the sale of consumer goods, Art. 11 No. 3 of the Directive concerning the distance marketing of consumer financial services.Google Scholar

36 See Leible in Rechtsangleichung und nationale Privatrechte (Schulte-Nölke/Schulze eds., 1999) 353, 368 et seq.Google Scholar

37 BGBl. 1986 II, pp. 810 et seq.Google Scholar

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41 See Freitag/Leible, Europäisches Wirtschafts- und Steuerrecht 2000, 342.Google Scholar

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45 COM (2001) 398 final = inset of Europäische Zeitschrift für Wirtschaftsrecht Vol. 16, 2001. See Grundmann, Neue Juristische Wochenschrift 2002, 393; Leible, Europäische Zeitschrift für Wirtschaft- und Steuerrecht 2001, 471; Schulte-Nölke, Juristenzeitung 2001, 917; Schwintowski, Juristenzeitung 2002, 205; Sonnenberger, Recht der Internationalen Wirtschaft 2002, 489; Staudenmayer, Europäische Zeitschrift für Wirtschaftsrecht 2001, 485; Staudenmayer, European review of public law 2002, 249; Staudenmayer, The international and comparative law quarterly Vol. 51, 2002, 673; Staudinger, Verbraucher und Recht 2001, 353; von Bar/Lando/Swann, European review of public law 2002, 183.Google Scholar

46 EC Directive 97/7 of 20 May 1997 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the protection of consumers in respect of distance contracts – Statement by the Council and the Parliament re Article 6 (1), O.J. EC 1997 L 144/27.Google Scholar

47 Leible, , Europäisches Wirtschaft- und Steuerrecht 2001, 471, 476.Google Scholar

48 See supra, note 3.Google Scholar

49 O.J. EC (2002) L 31/1.Google Scholar

50 See COM (2000) 716 final, reasons 4-5.Google Scholar

51 See COM (2000) 716 final, p. 4.Google Scholar

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56 First Council Directive of 9 March 1968 on co-ordination of safeguards which, for the protection of the interests of members and others, are required by Member States of companies within the meaning of the second paragraph of Article 58 of the Treaty, with a view to making such safeguards equivalent throughout the Community (68/151/EEC),O.J. EC 1968 L 65/8.Google Scholar

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61 See for more examples e. g. Hennrichs, Zeitschrift für Unternehmens- und Gesellschaftsrecht 1997, 66; Furthermore, the trade balance, as it is to be prepared under Community standards, also is relevant for the taxbalance under German law, see ECJ C-306/99, Slg. 2003, I-000 paragraph 78 et seq. – BIAO.Google Scholar

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72 See e. g. ECJ (1976) I-657, p. 666, paragraph 7/11 – Mazzalai; ECJ. (1990) I-3763, p. 3793, paragraph 34 – Dzodzi; ECJ (1990) I-4003, p. 4017 paragraph, 18 et seq. – Gmurzynska-Bscher; ECJ (1995) I-2919, p. 2946, paragraph 16 et seq. – Aprile.Google Scholar

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75 ECJ (1997) I-4161, p. 4202, paragraph 33 – Leur-Bloem.Google Scholar

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