Despite the phenomena of internationalization and Europeanization, legal process remains essentially national in character. However, certain domains of law are already unified. Focusing mainly on the French tradition and its contribution to the construction of a European legal space, this paper: a) criticizes the traditional methods used to manage diversity in law – unifying the law and co-ordinating those legal codes likely to be conflictual; b) studies the debate between universalism and particularism in private international law, a discipline whose essential (...) object is the resolution of the difficulties derived from pluralism; and c) attempts to discern an appropriate path towards a 'renewed universalism' by pursuing a comparative approach which can open the way towards unification but must also be able to preserve the irreducible diversity of law. (shrink)

The Association Henri Capitant des Amis de la Culture Juridique Française and the Société de législation comparée joined the academic network on European Contract Law in 2005 to work on the elaboration of a "common terminology" and on "guiding principles" as well as to propose a revised version of the Principles of European Contract Law. The results of this work were sent to the European Commission and have already been published in French. The English translation is now being published by (...) sellier.elp. This work could contribute to the wider European project. The part on the guiding principles could be a component of the CFR, in the form of "black letter" model rules or recitals. The part on terminology is, in itself, useful for the elaboration of the final various linguistic versions of the CFR. It finds its place within the materials which will accompany the model rules. Last but by no means least, the revised version of the PECL should be considered by the European institutions as an alternative set of model rules on contract law. (shrink)