Dear reader

• Author: Irene Kull
• Pages: 1-2

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JURIDICA INTERNATIONAL XX/2013

Dear reader,

This issue of Juridica International continues a solid tradition of offering articles

to a wide range of readers while concentrating on one central topic, which this time

is the prospects of the right of obligation in Estonia and in Europe. With 2012 came

the 10-year anniversary of entry into force of the Law of Obligations Act, the last

of the fi ve parts that make up the Estonian Civil Code Act. The highly signifi cant

event for Estonian private law of its entering into force on 1 July 2002, together with

the General Part of the Civil Code Act, was celebrated on 29–30 November 2012 in

Tartu by an international conference at which the issues of implementation of the

act were discussed and the tendencies in development of the right of obligation in

Europe were analysed. The Law of Obligations Act may be called a science-based act,

since its preparation involved analysis of the law of other countries, the sources of

common European contract law and international law, and foreign judicial practice

at the level of norms and principles, as well as implementation. This was an act pre-

pared on the principle of the ‘best solution’, one that contributed substantially to the

foundation for comparative legal implementation of law and for theoretical studies

in comparative law. The method of the best solution has since justifi ed itself, along

with adoption of the principles of common European contract law and international

trade law. It can be said that efforts to develop direct legal loans, foreign judicial

practice, and theoretical views into an internally coherent system that functions

without major failures yet can still be called modern and European law in its essence

have succeeded. However, it would be incorrect to state that all purposes of the act

have been fulfi lled—mainly in light of the regulations that have been added later. For

instance, the actual purposes of the consumer-protection norms in the Law of Obli-

gations Act and other acts have become questionable, since the solutions provided

are ineffective and often discordant with the already developed private-law system.

Accordingly, several articles in this issue are dedicated to critical analysis of the pur-

poses of the act and the legal instruments chosen for achieving these purposes.

In the decades since the act was passed, the meaning of national law has changed

signifi cantly. In this issue, the reader can fi nd an article by H. Beale, based on a pre-

sentation in the private-law portion of the XXXII Estonian Lawyers’ Days (‘The

Constitution at 20: Legal Practice from Pragmatism to Constitutionalism’), examin-

ing the Common European Sales Law as a competitor or alternative to the Estonian

law. In his article, Prof. Beale gives a simple and clear explanation of the prospects

of the private law in the Member States. He envisions competition with the com-

mon European private law, which, as part of each Member State’s national law, will

become a 29th legal system. Publication of a presentation of the proposal for the

Common European Sales Law by the European Commission has unleashed new pro-

cesses in European private law. Therefore, on one hand, we can say with satisfaction

that, in principle, Estonia has established its modern private-law system and there

is no need for its constant large-scale amendment and rewriting. On the other hand,

however, the situation foreseen, involving impending competition, forces the Mem-

ber States to undertake critical analysis and modernisation of their national legal

systems. Issues related to the wider functions of international private law and the

position of national law in the private-law system and in administration of justice in

the European Union arise with increasing acuteness in this process.

Since each legal system in Europe represents an independent legal culture char-

acteristic only to that legal system, it is inevitable for interpretation of law also to