A complete European civil code would cover the main areas of private law in the same way as national civil codes. The main areas that have been suggested are contract law, torts, property, restitution and also company law.

Although family law and inheritance law are normally covered by national civil codes, there are doubts as to whether it is possible to include them in a comprehensive European code. Family and inheritance law is often closely tied to a nation's culture. For this reason, it may not be possible or appropriate to create a uniform code that covers the entire European Union. As stated above, contract law is perhaps best suited for harmonization, followed by other areas of the law of obligations and the law of property. The creation of individual codes for discrete areas of private law is considered the most feasible and realistic goal. For this reason, efforts have been concentrated on creating a unified European contract law before attempting a more comprehensive European civil code.

An example of a modern comprehensive code is the Dutch Burgerlijk Wetboek, which came into force in 1992. The Burgerlijk Wetboek covers civil law, commercial law, consumer law and labor law and took almost 40 years to develop. This gives an indication of how long it may take to create a complete unified European civil code. The European Parliament resolution of March 2006 recommended also taking the new Dutch civil code as a model.[7]​.

Contenido

Se han planteado muchos argumentos tanto a favor como en rechazo a la idea de un código civil europeo. En esto se incluyen afirmaciones de que la creación de un código civil vinculante en toda la Unión Europea será imposible de lograr. Como proyecto mucho más amplio, la creación de un código civil europeo se descarta más fácilmente que los intentos de unificar áreas discretas como el derecho contractual.

against

The viability of a European civil code has been questioned on both political and legal grounds. Opponents often cite cultural differences and the lack of a common European legal culture. The connection between law, language, culture and national history constitutes a small aspect of the arguments against replacing national civil codes with a European code. However, arguments based on cultural differences are difficult to establish.

Other difficulties are the following:

In April 2017, after Theresa May May triggered Article 50 for the United Kingdom, Guy Verhofstadt commented that "perhaps it was naive to reconcile Napoleon's legal system with the common law of the British Empire, and perhaps it was never intended to be. But our predecessors should never be blamed for having tried."[9]​.

However, with the United Kingdom outside the European Union, the possibility of a European Civil Code may be closer than ever.

Whether the European Union has the legal power to create a European civil code has also been a rationale. Article 95 of the EC Treaty is considered the means by which a code would be created. However, some believe that the EU lacks the constitutional competence to enact a comprehensive code. Others argue that this does not defeat the idea of ​​a European civil code and is simply a political issue. If a general consensus were reached in favor of a European civil code, it might be politically possible to extend the constitutional competence of the European Union or to create an international treaty giving effect to the code. According to Professor Christian von Bar, "it depends entirely on a political decision of the European Commission, the [EU] Council and the European Parliament whether in the end the Common Framework of Reference will be adopted as an EU instrument."[5]​.

in favor

The arguments supporting a unified European civil code relate to the emergence of the European Union and an increasingly globalized economy. Proponents also point out that Europe, including England, shares a long legal history in the form of the ius commune before the national codifications of the centuries and centuries.[8]​[10]​ Furthermore, except for England and Ireland, all of Europe shares the tradition of civil law that began with the Napoleonic Code of 1804.[8]​.

As noted above, the discussion of a European civil code has primarily focused on the development of a unified European contract code. Advocates of a European code of contract law have largely divided into two groups. One group favors the use of the acquis communautaire or acquis communautaire (the body of European Union law) as the basis of a unified European contract law. The other has preferred a foundation in the field of comparative law and the analysis of the internal contract law of the EU Member States. This latter view was the initially dominant opinion in the field, but more recently the Acquis position has come to the fore.

Both options were contemplated in the 2001 Communication of the Commission of the European Communities on European contract law. Although there were many submissions supporting both camps of thought, the majority favored a review of the acquis as a basis for developing European contract law. The subsequent Action Plan and its follow-up document Way Forward have advanced the development of a European code of contract law, as well as a more comprehensive European civil code. The expected result of this new stage is the publication of the Common Framework of Reference. Some hope that the CFR will form the core part of a future unified European contract law, although that is not its purpose.

Professor of European Private Law Martijn W. Hesselink (director of the Amsterdam Center for the Study of European Contract Law at the University of Amsterdam) argued in October 2007 that the development of a European contractual code, or more broadly, a civil code, should occur transparently, with the participation and consent of citizens, consumers and smaller companies, so that large companies cannot gain too much power over others.[12]​.

A complete European civil code would cover the main areas of private law in the same way as national civil codes. The main areas that have been suggested are contract law, torts, property, restitution and also company law.

Although family law and inheritance law are normally covered by national civil codes, there are doubts as to whether it is possible to include them in a comprehensive European code. Family and inheritance law is often closely tied to a nation's culture. For this reason, it may not be possible or appropriate to create a uniform code that covers the entire European Union. As stated above, contract law is perhaps best suited for harmonization, followed by other areas of the law of obligations and the law of property. The creation of individual codes for discrete areas of private law is considered the most feasible and realistic goal. For this reason, efforts have been concentrated on creating a unified European contract law before attempting a more comprehensive European civil code.

An example of a modern comprehensive code is the Dutch Burgerlijk Wetboek, which came into force in 1992. The Burgerlijk Wetboek covers civil law, commercial law, consumer law and labor law and took almost 40 years to develop. This gives an indication of how long it may take to create a complete unified European civil code. The European Parliament resolution of March 2006 recommended also taking the new Dutch civil code as a model.[7]​.

Contenido

Se han planteado muchos argumentos tanto a favor como en rechazo a la idea de un código civil europeo. En esto se incluyen afirmaciones de que la creación de un código civil vinculante en toda la Unión Europea será imposible de lograr. Como proyecto mucho más amplio, la creación de un código civil europeo se descarta más fácilmente que los intentos de unificar áreas discretas como el derecho contractual.

against

The viability of a European civil code has been questioned on both political and legal grounds. Opponents often cite cultural differences and the lack of a common European legal culture. The connection between law, language, culture and national history constitutes a small aspect of the arguments against replacing national civil codes with a European code. However, arguments based on cultural differences are difficult to establish.

Other difficulties are the following:

In April 2017, after Theresa May May triggered Article 50 for the United Kingdom, Guy Verhofstadt commented that "perhaps it was naive to reconcile Napoleon's legal system with the common law of the British Empire, and perhaps it was never intended to be. But our predecessors should never be blamed for having tried."[9]​.

However, with the United Kingdom outside the European Union, the possibility of a European Civil Code may be closer than ever.

Whether the European Union has the legal power to create a European civil code has also been a rationale. Article 95 of the EC Treaty is considered the means by which a code would be created. However, some believe that the EU lacks the constitutional competence to enact a comprehensive code. Others argue that this does not defeat the idea of ​​a European civil code and is simply a political issue. If a general consensus were reached in favor of a European civil code, it might be politically possible to extend the constitutional competence of the European Union or to create an international treaty giving effect to the code. According to Professor Christian von Bar, "it depends entirely on a political decision of the European Commission, the [EU] Council and the European Parliament whether in the end the Common Framework of Reference will be adopted as an EU instrument."[5]​.

in favor

The arguments supporting a unified European civil code relate to the emergence of the European Union and an increasingly globalized economy. Proponents also point out that Europe, including England, shares a long legal history in the form of the ius commune before the national codifications of the centuries and centuries.[8]​[10]​ Furthermore, except for England and Ireland, all of Europe shares the tradition of civil law that began with the Napoleonic Code of 1804.[8]​.

As noted above, the discussion of a European civil code has primarily focused on the development of a unified European contract code. Advocates of a European code of contract law have largely divided into two groups. One group favors the use of the acquis communautaire or acquis communautaire (the body of European Union law) as the basis of a unified European contract law. The other has preferred a foundation in the field of comparative law and the analysis of the internal contract law of the EU Member States. This latter view was the initially dominant opinion in the field, but more recently the Acquis position has come to the fore.

Both options were contemplated in the 2001 Communication of the Commission of the European Communities on European contract law. Although there were many submissions supporting both camps of thought, the majority favored a review of the acquis as a basis for developing European contract law. The subsequent Action Plan and its follow-up document Way Forward have advanced the development of a European code of contract law, as well as a more comprehensive European civil code. The expected result of this new stage is the publication of the Common Framework of Reference. Some hope that the CFR will form the core part of a future unified European contract law, although that is not its purpose.

Professor of European Private Law Martijn W. Hesselink (director of the Amsterdam Center for the Study of European Contract Law at the University of Amsterdam) argued in October 2007 that the development of a European contractual code, or more broadly, a civil code, should occur transparently, with the participation and consent of citizens, consumers and smaller companies, so that large companies cannot gain too much power over others.[12]​.