Simon Whittaker

This article considers why English lawyers have not generally been attracted by the notion of 'network contracts' to regulate complex economic relations.

This brief essay explains the problems encountered and solutions adopted in the transaction of a French civil law reform project, the Avant-projet de reforme du droit des obligations. The translation was undertaken jointly with John Cartwright

This essay explains the development of product liability in English law

This article (which is an updated version of a paper published in a group of conference papers in Spain in 2002) deals with the question whether a court can give a contractual party further time to perform a contractual obligation (looking at French and English law).

This short article contrasts the interpretative style of the ECJ with more traditional (and conceptual) styles of 'European private lawyers' and then illustrates this contrast by reference to the decision of the ECJ in EasyCar v OFT

This article compares the different treatment of a claimant's failure to mitigate his/her own harm in French and English law.

This article explains how an English lawyer would see the notion of a 'general clause' and then gives three types of examples of such a very broad legal norm from English law.

analyses the provisions of the Principles of European Contract law on the plurality of debtors (joint and several liability) from the point of view of English law and French law.

A brief article exploring how consumer protection relates to the distinction between public and private law (with reference to French and English law)

This article explores technical problems of the implementation of the Directive on consumer guarantees and also the tensions which its implementation will cause in English law arising from fundamental differences between assumptions as to the nature of contractual obligation and contractual performance found in English law and those found in the Directive, the latter reflecting the general civilian position in this respect.

This article looks at the varieties of formal requirements to be found in English law and how they are changing, in part owing to the impact of European legislation. It raises questions as to the relationship between requirements of form and of substance in this context.

This article looks at the English law governing non-performance and breach of contract in English law and draws comparisons with aspects of the French and Belgian law.

The European Commission’s Proposal for a Regulation on a Common European Sales Law (‘CESL’) seeks to create a European scheme of contract law available for parties to choose to govern cross-border contracts for the sale of goods, supply of ‘digital content,’ and for the supply of related services.This article explains the background to the Proposal, sketches out the purposes and scope of the CESL, and considers and criticises its legal framework (and in particular its relationship with private international law) and the key requirement of the parties’ agreement. In the author’s view, the CESL scheme remains an unconvincing basis for the achievement of its economic purposes and, as regards consumer contracts, puts too much reliance on the agreement of the consumer as a justification for the loss of their existing protection under EU private international law rules.

La proposition de directive relative aux droits des consommateurs(octobre 2008) rassemble dans un seul texte les quatre directives sur l'acquis communautaire en vue de l'« harmonisation totale » de la protection des consommateurs. Cet article éclaire les changements substantiels par rapport à deux de ces directives (clauses contractuelles abusives et ventes au consommateur), et l'ambiguïté du concept d'« harmonisation totale ». Soit celle-ci écartera l'application des dispositions nationales pouvant empiéter sur le domaine des règles harmonisées, conformément à l'inspiration économique de la Proposition, soit elle n'affectera que les lois nationales de transposition de la Proposition, sans préjudice du contrôle des clauses abusives ou des droits.

This is a case-note criticising a decision of the ECJ in Case C-402/03 drawing (as the title suggests)a distinction between the Court's concern with the form of harmonsition while the substance is left to one side.

This article criticises the suggested reforms to French extra-contractual liability for fault contained in the L’avant-projet de réforme du droit de la responsabilité (2005) (the 'Avant-projet Catala').

This article attempts to explain the doctrine and practice of judicial use of precedent in English law to lawyers from other and especially non common law systems.

Explains the strategy of English law in relation to breach of contract in terms of a right to the subject-matter of the debtor's obligation rather than to performance of the contract by the debtor.

case-note on ECJ's decision on Oceano Grupo Editoriale v Quintero