The objective of this casebook, like others in the Ius Commune Series, is to help uncover common roots, notwithstanding differences in approach, of the European legal systems, with a view to strengthening the common legal heritage of Europe. The casebook covers the big legal families in the EU and contains judgments from the supreme courts and other courts of the Member States. In view of the importance of EC legislation (eg harmonisation directives and regulations) in this field, the consumer law casebook contains much material derived from Community law, such as extracts from directives (eg on unfair contract terms, distance selling, doorstep selling, product liability, unfair commercial pratices etc) and judgments of the ECJ and national court decisions. Furthermore, attention is paid to the way in which, when interpreting EC directives in the consumer field, the ECJ refers to concepts common to the legal systems of the Member States and how the courts of the Member States incorporate the concepts found in the directives (as interpreted by the ECJ) in their legal systems. The casebook also compares harmonised and pre-harmonised law, especially in the case law of the Member States. The casebook concentrates on private law in the field of consumer protection but also addresses topics, in particular in the field of enforcement, that are primarily a matter of public law.
