Jaap Hage · Bram Akkermans Editors Introduction to Law Introduction to Law ThiSisaFMBlankPage Jaap Hage (cid:129) Bram Akkermans Editors Introduction to Law Editors JaapHage BramAkkermans FoundationsandMethodsofLaw PrivateLaw MaastrichtUniversityFacultyofLaw MaastrichtUniversityFacultyofLaw Maastricht Maastricht TheNetherlands TheNetherlands ISBN978-3-319-06909-8 ISBN978-3-319-06910-4(eBook) DOI10.1007/978-3-319-06910-4 SpringerChamHeidelbergNewYorkDordrechtLondon LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2014946732 #SpringerInternationalPublishingSwitzerland2014 Thisworkissubjecttocopyright.AllrightsarereservedbythePublisher,whetherthewholeorpart of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation,broadcasting,reproductiononmicrofilmsorinanyotherphysicalway,andtransmissionor informationstorageandretrieval,electronicadaptation,computersoftware,orbysimilarordissimilar methodologynowknownorhereafterdeveloped.Exemptedfromthislegalreservationarebriefexcerpts inconnectionwithreviewsorscholarlyanalysisormaterialsuppliedspecificallyforthepurposeofbeing enteredandexecutedonacomputersystem,forexclusiveusebythepurchaserofthework.Duplication ofthispublicationorpartsthereofispermittedonlyundertheprovisionsoftheCopyrightLawofthe Publisher’s location, in its current version, and permission for use must always be obtained from Springer.PermissionsforusemaybeobtainedthroughRightsLinkattheCopyrightClearanceCenter. ViolationsareliabletoprosecutionundertherespectiveCopyrightLaw. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publicationdoesnotimply,evenintheabsenceofaspecificstatement,thatsuchnamesareexempt fromtherelevantprotectivelawsandregulationsandthereforefreeforgeneraluse. While the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication,neithertheauthorsnortheeditorsnorthepublishercanacceptanylegalresponsibilityfor anyerrorsoromissionsthatmaybemade.Thepublishermakesnowarranty,expressorimplied,with respecttothematerialcontainedherein. Printedonacid-freepaper SpringerispartofSpringerScience+BusinessMedia(www.springer.com) Preface The Introduction to Law that you are now holding is special in the sense that it introducesstudentstolawingeneralandnottothelawofonespecificjurisdiction. Ithasbeenwrittenwithtwopurposesinmind.Inthefirstplace,thisbookismeant to be used in the course Introduction to Law of the Maastricht European Law School. This course aims to provide law students with global knowledge of the basic legal concepts, elementary philosophy of law, and the main fields of law. Since the European Law School does not exclusively focus on the law of one particular European jurisdiction, there is need for an introductory course that also abstractsfromthelawofspecificjurisdictions. Inthesecondplace,andpossiblymoreimportantly,thisbookreflectsaspecial way of looking at legal education. We believe that it is of crucial importance for lawyerstobeawareofthedifferentwaysinwhichsocietalproblemscanbesolved and to be able to argue about the advantages and disadvantages of different legal solutions.Beingalawyerinvolves,onthisview,beingabletoreasonlikealawyer, evenmorethanhavingdetailedknowledgeofparticularsetsofrules. The present Introduction to Law reflects this view by paying explicit attention to the functions of rules and to ways of reasoning about the relative qualities of alternativelegalsolutions.Where‘positive’lawisdiscussed,theemphasisisonthe legalquestionsthatmustbeaddressedbyafieldoflawandonthedifferentkindsof solutionsthathavebeenadoptedby—forinstance—thecommonlawandthecivil law tradition. The law of specific jurisdictions is mainly discussed by way of illustration of a possible answer to, for instance, the question when the existence ofavalidcontractisassumed. The editors want to thank the authors who contributed to this book and whose namesarementionedintheheadingsofthechapterstheywrote.Notmentionedin specificchaptersbutalsoimportant arethecontributionsof,inalphabeticalorder, Emanuel van Dongen, Amoury Groenen, Sascha Hardt, Philipp Kiiver, Dennis Patterson,ChristianPfeiffer,DietmarvonderPfordten,RalfPoscher,MarkSeitter, Anjum Shabbir, Jasmine Styles, Andre´ van der Walt, Antonia Waltermann, the anonymousreviewerswhokindlycommentedondraftversionsofthechapters,and the many students who commented on earlier versions of the texts. In different stagesofthepreparationandindifferentways,allthesepersonsassistedinmaking thisbookpossible,andtheeditorsexpresstheirgratitudeforthesecontributions. v vi Preface The editors of Introduction to Law are interested in your opinion of this book. We therefore invite you to send comments, suggestions, and questions to jaap. [email protected]. Maastricht,TheNetherlands JaapHage April2014 BramAkkermans Contents 1 Foundations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 JaapHage 2 SourcesofLaw. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 JaapHage 3 BasicConceptsofLaw. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 JaapHage 4 TheLawofContract. . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . 51 JanSmits 5 PropertyLaw. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 BramAkkermans 6 TortLaw. . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . .. . . 101 G.E.vanMaanenandJaapHage 7 CriminalLaw. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121 JohannesKeiler,MichelePanzavolta,andDavidRoef 8 ConstitutionalLaw. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157 AaltWillemHeringa 9 AdministrativeLaw. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189 ChrisBackesandMariolinaEliantonio 10 TheLawofEurope. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211 JaapHage 11 InternationalLaw. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241 MennoT.Kamminga 12 HumanRights. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261 GustavoArosemena vii viii Contents 13 ElementsofProceduralLaw. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287 FokkeFernhoutandRemcovanRhee 14 PhilosophyofLaw. . .. . . . .. . . .. . . .. . . .. . . .. . . .. . . . .. . . .. 313 JaapHage Index. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 337 Contributors Aalt Willem Heringa Maastricht Montesquieu Institute, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands Bram Akkermans Maastricht European Private Law Institute (M-EPLI), Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands Chris Backes Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands David Roef Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands Fokke Fernhout Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands Gerrit van Maanen Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands Gustavo Arosemena Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands Jan Smits Maastricht European Private Law Institute (M-EPLI), Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands Jaap Hage Maastricht European Private Law Institute (M-EPLI), Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands Johannes Keiler Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands Mariolina Eliantonio Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands MennoT.Kamminga MaastrichtCentreforHumanRights,MaastrichtUniversity, Maastricht,TheNetherlands Michele Panzavolta Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands Remco van Rhee Maastricht European Private Law Institute (M-EPLI), Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands ix