Max Planck Encyclopedia of European Private Law
The Encyclopedia consists of close to 500 structured entries. Based on legal history and the comparative material available, each entry explores current developments and future harmonisation projects – where they exist – for all areas of private law. A bibliography provides an overview of the most important literature for further reading. The Encyclopedia thus provides an overview of European private law and constitutes a central source of reference for academics, practitioners and politicians. Particularly useful are references to special norms, the case law of European and international courts and further reading material. In line with its format as an Encyclopedia, entries are in alphabetical order. Each entry includes numerous cross-references to other entries. The entries are also listed in thematic and subject indices, and there is a central legal bibliography.
The Max Planck Encyclopedia of European Private Law gathers together legal knowledge about European private law and makes it available to European private law academia. It is not a mere dictionary – a collection of legal terms with short definitions. The material is too complex for this sort of treatment. But it is also not a systematic work of reference that investigates all aspects of European private law in general and in special parts. This is because European private law is still too scattered due to the uncoordinated enactment of rules and current scholarly debate. For a truly systematic work the time is not yet ripe. But where the law is already sufficiently mature, the Encyclopedia contains systematic entries (such as community law or interpretation). Other entries address individual sources of community law (such as insider dealing, bank transfers, or European patents).
Although the Encyclopedia is not a systematic handbook, it is much more than a mere compilation of the available knowledge. It addresses areas of the law where information is presently attainable only through relatively inaccessible specialised literature or has not yet been the object of research. For many areas the structured approach to the material under the guiding principle of the development of harmonised law is completely new. The Encyclopedia establishes the foundation for a subsequent systematic treatment of European private law.
