New edited book explores the role of default rules in private law

A new book co-edited by Professor Birke Häcker (University of Bonn and IECL Visiting Researcher at Oxford) and Dr Johannes Ungerer (Faculty of Law, University of Oxford) examines the often overlooked but highly influential role played by default rules in private law. Published by Hart in the IECL Series, Default Rules in Private Law brings together perspectives from leading scholars across a range of fields and jurisdictions.

Default rules are non-mandatory legal rules that apply where no other rules have been agreed or provided by the parties. The new volume explores the topic from a variety of angles relevant to scholarship and legal practice.

Those angles include 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; and the perspectives of 'players' engaged in the generation and application of default rules.

The book is the outcome of an international workshop hosted by the Faculty of Law in Oxford in March 2023. Contributors to the volume include Professors John Cartwright, Geneviève Helleringer and Simon Whittaker of Oxford's Faculty of Law.