Skip to main content

Description

Drawing on the experience of recognised experts from across a range of different fields and jurisdictions, this landmark publication tackles default rules in private law in comparative perspective. Often underestimated, but highly influential, default rules are non-mandatory rules that kick in where nothing else has been agreed or provided.

The contributions explore default rules from a variety of angles relevant to both scholarship and legal practice, including:
· behavioural aspects and the role of platform terms in the digital age;
· the remit and operation of defaults in different areas, ranging from contract and commercial law to succession, civil procedure and private international law;
· a comparison between Common law and Civilian approaches as well as the EU level;
· the perspectives of different 'players' engaged in the generation and application of default rules.

Table of Contents

Preface
List of Contributors
1. A Comparative Introduction to Default Rules, Birke Häcker (University of Bonn, Germany)
2. Regulation by Means of Default Rules, Alexander Hellgardt (University of Augsburg, Germany)
3. Behavioural Aspects of Default Rules, Geneviève Helleringer (University of Oxford, UK)
4. Digitising Defaults: Methods and Mechanisms of Generating Default Rules in the Digital Age, Florian Möslein (University of Marburg, Germany)
5. Default Rules in the Common Law: Substantive Rules and Precedent, Philip Sales (Supreme Court of the United Kingdom)
6. Default Rules as a Means of European Integration, Jürgen Basedow (Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law, Germany)
7. Default Rules in Contract Law, John Cartwright (University of Oxford, UK)
8. The Nature and Function of Default Rules in English Consumer Contract Law, Simon Whittaker (University of Oxford, UK)
9. The Nature and Function of Default Rules in Commercial Law, Louise Gullifer (University of Cambridge, UK)
10. Default Norms in Labour Law: From Private Right to Public Law, Alan Bogg (University of Bristol, UK)
11. The Nature and Function of Default Rules in Succession Law: A Comparative Analysis, Gregor Christandl (University of Graz, Austria)
12. The (Changing) Role of Default Rules in Civil Procedure and Arbitration, Giesela Rühl (Humboldt University of Berlin, Germany)
13. Private International Default Rules, Johannes Ungerer (University of Oxford, UK)

Product details

Published Sep 18 2025
Format Ebook (Epub & Mobi)
Edition 1st
Extent 288
ISBN 9781509973538
Imprint Hart Publishing
Series Studies of the Oxford Institute of European and Comparative Law
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing

About the contributors

Anthology Editor

Birke Häcker

Birke Häcker is Schlegel Professor of Civil Law, C…

Anthology Editor

Johannes Ungerer

Johannes Ungerer is Erich Brost Senior Research Le…

Related Titles

Environment: Staging