This book addresses and highlights the core issues concerning general principles of EU law and their relationship with and impact on private law. With the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty, the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights became a legally binding source of primary law and highlights, together with the General Principles of EU law, the importance of fundamental rights in the legal system of the Union. This increased visibility means that private parties have begun to rely on fundamental rights arguments in proceedings in front of national courts and Union courts more and more often. Amongst many other issues this development brings important questions relating to the effects of EU fundamental rights on private law to the forefront. After an introductory chapter by the editors the following four overarching themes provide the structure of this book and broadly reflect the approaches discussed in its eighteen essays: the methodology and theory in the elaboration of new General Principles of EU law; the Constitutionalization of private autonomy in EU law; issues of horizontal direct effect viewed from conceptual, sectoral and remedial perspectives; and the relationship between General Principles and competition law. This book reflects the continuous relevance and the need to re-examine the effects and the status of General Principles of EU law, which have been dealt with already twice before (in 1999 and 2007) by the group that has compiled the present volume, the Swedish Network for European Legal Studies. The discussion that emerges is, here as before, of immense significance both for theoretical legal studies and for legal practice. The eighteen essays here printed are all final author-edited versions of papers first presented at the Network’s conference in Stockholm in November 2012. The authors include both eminent, well-known experts, and representatives of a new generation of younger scholars in the field.
