Definition
In the broader sense the PECL are a "set of general rules which are designed to provide maximum flexibility and thus accommodate future development in legal thinking in the field of contract law."
The impetus for the work on the PECL were resolutions of the European Parliament of 1989 and 1994 which expressed the desire to establish a common European civil law. As an initial foundation, a common contract law was to be first created.
Pursuing this goal, the Commission on European Contract Law (an organization independent from any national obligations) started work in 1982 under the chairmanship of Ole Lando, a lawyer and professor from Denmark. The Commission consisted of 22 members from all member states of the European Union and was partly financed by the EU. In the year 1995 the first part of the PECL was published; since 1999 the second part has been available and the third part was completed in 2002.
Today, the work of the Commission on European Contract Law is continued by the Study Group on a European Civil Code. The Group is managed by Christian von Bar, a German law professor. The Group was founded in 2005.
The PECL were inspired by the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG) from 1980; however, they are a so-called Soft Law, such as the American Restatement of the Law of Contract, which is supposed to restate the Common Law of the United States. Therefore, the PECL do not represent a legally enforceable regulation: "The term 'soft law' is a blanket term for all sorts of rules, which are not enforced on behalf of the state, but are seen, for example, as goals to be achieved."
Thus, the PECL are very similar to the Principles of International Commercial Contracts of UNIDROIT - International Institute for the Unification of Private Law (Unidroit Principles) which were already published in 1994. As is the case with the PECL, the Unidroit-Principles are a “private codification” prepared by top-class jurists without any national or supranational order or authorization. Their main goal of both the PECL and the Unidroit Principles was the compilation of uniform legal principles for reference, and, if necessary, the development of national legal systems.
In the compilation of the PECL, the Law of the EU member states, and thus common and civil law, as well as Non-European Law were taken into consideration. In the PECL regulations are available which in this form have not been included so far in any legal system. The authors of the PECL also pursued the long term goal of influencing the development of laws in Europe.
Read more about this topic: Principles Of European Contract Law
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