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Lindenbergh, Siewert --- "Fundamental Rights in Private Law: Anchors or Goals in a Globalizing Legal Order?" [2010] ELECD 297; in Faure, Michael; van der Walt, André (eds), "Globalization and Private Law" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2010)

Book Title: Globalization and Private Law

Editor(s): Faure, Michael; van der Walt, André

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781848447608

Section: Chapter 11

Section Title: Fundamental Rights in Private Law: Anchors or Goals in a Globalizing Legal Order?

Author(s): Lindenbergh, Siewert

Number of pages: 16

Extract:

11. Fundamental rights in private law:
anchors or goals in a globalizing legal
order?
Siewert Lindenbergh*

1 HUMAN RIGHTS IN PRIVATE LAW
Is a woman who has at the age of 21 signed for possible future debts of her
father liable for these debts, even if this inevitably leads to a heavy lifelong
burden? Can an employer of an employee who appears seven months pregnant
on the day she returns from her parental leave revoke his consent with her
early return? Can a taxi company argue successfully against a passenger who
suffers severe injuries due to a taxi driver's fault that his liability is limited by
law to an amount of 137 000 euros, while the loss amounts to a tenfold? Does
a property developer who leaves his land unused for years lose his property to
farming neighbours due to limitation?
These questions can be regarded as the most classical issues in private law.
Does a given promise bind under all circumstances? Under which circum-
stances does fraud or deceit lead to annulment of an agreement? Do statutory
rules bind parties in a contract? And what are the consequences of not exer-
cising property rights for a long period of time? All modern jurisdictions, be it
with a common law tradition or a civil law tradition or with a combination of
the two, have private law rules that are, no doubt, able to regulate these issues.
Yet, the above examples have in common that they deal with essential values
...