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The Borderline between Tort and Contract: Interactions and Implications

All European legal systems recognise a boundary between the domains of tort and contract. Whereas there have been voices contending that this distinction is no longer valid or, at least, that there should be a unification of the two sets of rules in particular contexts, others claim that there is still a very important distinction to be maintained. In fact the boundary between the two areas is often blurred and whether it is drawn in one place or another varies from country to country, giving rise to the paradox that what is considered a matter of contractual liability in one legal system is governed exclusively by tort law in another.

The project will explore how differences between tort and contract affect the foundations of liability, the nature and amount of the compensation, the extent of liability and whether defences and limitation periods corresponding to the distinct causes of action give rise to sub-stantially different outcomes. It will also analyse to what extent actions in tort and in contract exclude each other and, when this is the case, how their concurrence is organised, and lastly will devote its attention to specific situations such as pre-contractual liability and the liability of professionals.

The results of the study were published by the Group's new series publisher, Intersentia.

Miquel Martin-Casals (ed), The Borderlines of Tort Law (2019) ISBN 9781780682488 .






For further information on this project please contact ectil@ectil.org.