ABSTRACT
The adoption by common lawyers of the civilian generic category of the law of obligations goes far in suggesting, if not actually implying, the possibility of European harmonisation of private law. This possibility has been given added impetus not only by the European Parliament’s call in 1989 and 1994 for the elaboration of a European civil code,1 but by the completion and publication of the Principles of European Contract Law (PECL) in 1998.2 In addition, there seems to be considerable doctrinal support, among civil lawyers if not among those trained in the common law tradition, for increasing harmonisation. For example, in 1994 a collaborative work, Towards a European Civil Code, was published in English by a Dutch academic press.3 This collaborative work, while accepting that harmonisation of private law was not yet a realistic project, nevertheless, viewed with ‘enthusiasm’ the possibility of a European code capable of acting as a framework and a ‘source of inspiration’ for convergence.4 It is the purpose of this concluding chapter to reflect not just upon English law in the context of a European law of obligations, but, equally, upon the complex theoretical issues and debates that lie beneath any attempt at harmonisation.
