What Do We Mean By EU Tort Law?
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Paula Giliker
Abstract
This article will examine what we mean by the term ‘EU tort law’ and why it is important to recognise EU tort law both as a concept providing remedies to citizens in EU and national courts, but also as an area of law which, notably in the context of national courts, is under-theorised and in danger, therefore, of being incorrectly applied. EU tort law is a sub-set of a broader category which may be termed ‘European tort law’. It crosses sectors as diverse as consumer, employment, competition and financial services law. It provides citizens with rights, often to compensatory damages, for breach of interests protected by EU law. Fundamentally, it plays a vital role in ensuring the effectiveness of EU law. It will be submitted that only by focussing on what we actually mean by EU tort law will we gain an understanding of its content and rules and be able to address problems in its application.
Endnote
This paper was presented as a keynote speech at the Society of Legal Scholars conference in Dublin 2017 and the author would like to thank the organisers and the audience for their helpful comments, with particular thanks to Claudina Richards and Peter Cane. I am also very grateful to my colleague, Albert Sanchez Graells, for his helpful comments on this article.
© 2018 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Frontmatter
- Articles
- What Do We Mean By EU Tort Law?
- Children’s Liability in Negligence
- Illegal Earnings
- Extending the Frontiers of Tort Law: Liability for Ecological Harm in the French Civil Code
- Case Commentary
- The Recognition of Punitive Damages in Italy: A commentary on Cass Sez Un 5 July 2017, 16601, AXO Sport, SpA v NOSA Inc
- Review Article
- Understanding Tort Law by the Kantian Moral Principle of Human Freedom
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Frontmatter
- Articles
- What Do We Mean By EU Tort Law?
- Children’s Liability in Negligence
- Illegal Earnings
- Extending the Frontiers of Tort Law: Liability for Ecological Harm in the French Civil Code
- Case Commentary
- The Recognition of Punitive Damages in Italy: A commentary on Cass Sez Un 5 July 2017, 16601, AXO Sport, SpA v NOSA Inc
- Review Article
- Understanding Tort Law by the Kantian Moral Principle of Human Freedom
