Theoretical Reflections on the Public-Private Distinction and their Traces in European Union Law

<p>From its inception, EU law has been organised with (economic) integration as its guiding paradigm. A public-private distinction as it is known in many civil law countries has never been a characterising feature of EU law. In the absence of such a divide in EU law, the public and the private...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Constanze Semmelmann
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Oñati International Institute for the Sociology of Law 2012-06-01
Series:Oñati Socio-Legal Series
Subjects:
Online Access:http://ssrn.com/abstract=2016077
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Summary:<p>From its inception, EU law has been organised with (economic) integration as its guiding paradigm. A public-private distinction as it is known in many civil law countries has never been a characterising feature of EU law. In the absence of such a divide in EU law, the public and the private sphere interact differently. First, the attempt to strike a balance between the state and the market reflects the struggle for a delineation between public and private power. Second, the evolution of the personal scope of EU internal market law and fundamental rights increasingly involves private parties at both sides. Third, the emergence of European contract law has led to conceptual clashes between the international trade law paradigm and the public-private distinction in the tradition of civil law countries. It will be argued that EU law scholarship and legal practice will have to re-conceptualise the role of the individual and private parties as subjects of the law, bearers of rights and addressees of obligations in order to flesh out what is known as the private law element in many national legal cultures.</p> <hr /><p>Desde su creaci&oacute;n, la legislaci&oacute;n de la Uni&oacute;n Europea (UE) se ha organizado en base al paradigma orientador de la integraci&oacute;n (econ&oacute;mica). La legislaci&oacute;n comunitaria nunca se ha caracterizado por una distinci&oacute;n p&uacute;blico-privada como la existente en el derecho civil de numerosos pa&iacute;ses. Ante la ausencia de esta divisi&oacute;n en la legislaci&oacute;n de la UE, la esfera p&uacute;blica y la privada interact&uacute;an de forma indiferente. En primer lugar, el intento de lograr un equilibrio entre el Estado y el mercado refleja la lucha por una delimitaci&oacute;n entre el poder p&uacute;blico y el privado. En segundo lugar, la evoluci&oacute;n del alcance privado de la legislaci&oacute;n sobre el mercado interno europeo y los derechos fundamentales hace que se impliquen cada vez m&aacute;s poderes privados en ambas partes. En tercer lugar, el surgimiento del derecho contractual europeo ha dado lugar a conflictos conceptuales entre el paradigma de derecho mercantil internacional y la distinci&oacute;n p&uacute;blico-privada en la tradici&oacute;n del derecho civil de los pa&iacute;ses. Se argumentar&aacute; que la comunidad cient&iacute;fica de la UE en materia legislativa y la pr&aacute;ctica jur&iacute;dica tendr&aacute;n que replantearse el papel de los entes individuales y privados como sujetos de derecho, portadores de derechos y obligaciones, con el fin de profundizar en lo que se conoce como el elemento del derecho privado en muchas culturas jur&iacute;dicas nacionales.</p> <p><strong>DOWNLOAD THIS PAPER FROM SSRN</strong>: <a href="http://ssrn.com/abstract=2016077" target="_blank">http://ssrn.com/abstract=2016077</a></p>
ISSN:2079-5971