Some Features of the Law of Contract in the Third Millennium

This paper brings some thoughts about a future unified or harmonised contract law in Europe and in the world. It is influenced by developments of contract law in the last decades of the 20th century and by the author’s work in the Commission on European Contract Law which is preparing the Principles of European Contract Law and in the UNIDROIT Working Group which established the Principles of International Commercial Contracts.
In the first part of the paper it is discussed whether in Europe as well as in the world the law of contract needs to be unified or harmonised.
If a unification or harmonisation is to be established the next question is how this should be done. In the European Union should a unification be achieved through legislation or in a “creeping” way by persuading the courts to harmonise in their cases. This is the topic of the second part.
The third part deals with the so called “lex mercatoria”. Should parties be permitted to submit their contract to general principles of law such as international customs and usages, the Principles of European Contract Law and the Principles of International Commercial Contracts, and other common rules of law?
The fourth part of the paper will bring an account of some of the salient features of the common principles of contract law, notably those embodied in the Principles of European Contract Law.