1. Class Unification of Law - Uniform Law (Rechtsvereinheitlichung) Summer term 2016

2. Notion, purposes, history of unification of law Object of the class Information about „Schwerpunktbereich 5“ Seminar „Legal Aspects of Cooperation in the Baltic Sea and the Black Sea areas“ Script: http://www.eastlaw.uni-kiel.de/

3. Time schedule of the class 21.04.2016 Basics of unification of law: notion, purposes, history 28.04.2016 Methods of unification of law 05.05.2015 Holiday 12.05.2016 Uniform sales law (CISG) I 19.05.2016 Uniform sales law II 26.05.2016 Uniform law in other parts of the law of obligations 02.06.2016 Uniform credit security law 09.06.2016 Uniform transport law I 16.06.2016 Uniform transport law II 23.06.2016 Uniform information technology (IT) law 30.06.2016 Approximation of laws in the EU 07.07.2016 Unification of the law of civil procedure 14.07.2016 Unification of insolvency law

5. Practical example on uniform law You are the head of the legal department of a German enterprise, which intends to buy computers from a Chinese enterprise. The CEOs of both enterprises have in principle agreed on the purchase. You are asked to negotiate the detailed contract with your Chinese counterpart. Does this case raise issues of unification of law (uniform law)?

6. Approach to answers Substantive sales law -CISG -UNIDROIT Principles of International Commercial Contracts -INCOTERMS Conflict of laws: Rome I Regulation Dispute settlement -Brussels I Regulation -UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration

7. Notion and object of unification of law Divergence of legal orders (Rechtsordnungen) –> national/international unification of law (not only reception of foreign law) Related notions: Uniform law (Einheitsrecht); harmonization/approxi- mation of law(s) (Rechtsangleichung) et al. Object: all legal areas. Here focus on international business law

8. Tasks in unification of law Forensic-practical function Scientific function: search for „best solution“ or acceptable compromise. General part – specific part (Kropholler) Legislative function

10. Practical realization of the legislative function Recognise the problem Collect proposals for solutions to the problem Do your own scientific analysis of the problem using comparative law Questionnaire(s) Select and use experts Transparency of the legislative process Languages? Use of neighbouring disciplines Selection of members of working group and chairperson Choice of legal instrument (treaty, model law, official commentary, legislative guides etc.) Circulation of results Implementation

12. Neighbouring disciplines Legal history Comparative law Sociology of law Economic analysis of law Private international law (PIL, conflict of laws)

13. Historical sketch Ancient Greece: Aristotle, Platon Roman law Middle Ages: canon law (kanonisches Recht) Formation of states in modern times Unification of law as a scientific discipline and by specialized international organizations since the end of the 19th century General upswing since mid 20th century (UN-suborganizations, EEC/EU)

15. Literature and jurisprudence Kropholler, Internationales EinheitsR, 1975 Marquis, International Uniform Commercial Law: Towards A Progressive Consciousness (2005) Series of publications Casebooks Law journals, eg Uniform Law Review Electronic databases and Internet, eg LexisNexis, Westlaw, HeinOnline „IPRspr.“ (yearly collection of German jurisprudence on PIL and foreign law). Specialised international case law databases such as CLOUT