Reforming the French Law of Obligations. Comparative Reflections on the Avant‐projet de réforme du droit des obligations et de la prescription (the ‘Avant‐projet Catala’) by J. Cartwright, S. Vogenauer and S. Whittaker (eds)
| Author | Eric Descheemaeker |
| Published date | 01 November 2010 |
| Date | 01 November 2010 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2230.2010.00832_3.x |
Moloney envisages and argues in favour of retail market supervision remaining with
national supervisors following the changes to the EC institutional structure that are
likely to be adopted in the wake of the de Larosie
're report. In the context of redress,
Moloney argues that private action is not a realistic option for retail investors and that
attention is therefore better focused on complaints procedures, alternative dispute
resolution and collective action in the form of representative actions.
Overall, this is a very well written and clearly argued book, even if there are few
simple answers to the ‘How?’ in the title.What does emerge clearly is the range of
options that are available in the design and implementation of a retail investment
regulatory regime and how these options have been adopted and implemented in
the EC and UK regimes.The tripartite characterisation of the retail investor provides
a useful map to navigate through some of the more complex regulatory provisions
while the underlying focus on law ‘in action’ ensures that the capacity of regulation
to change behaviour is carefully considered. Moloney’sbook is a timely contribution
to the development of ¢nancial regulation at a critical point in its evolution.
Iain MacNeil
n
J. Cartwright, S.Vogenauer and S.Whittaker (eds), Reforming the French Law of
Obligations. Comparative Re£ections on the Avant-projet de re
Łforme du
droit des obligations et de la prescription (the‘Avant-projet Catala’),Oxford:
Hart Publishing, 2009, 930 pp, hb d105.0 0.
The publication of Reforming the French Law of Obligations is a very welcome oppor-
tunity to draw the attention of English-speaking lawyers, in the UKor overseas,
to an ongoingacademic endeavour in France to reform those sections of the Code
that pertain to the law of obligations and the law of prescription, many of
whose rules had remained unchanged since 1804.The book itself arose from a
two-daycolloquium that took place at St John’s College, Oxford in March 2007;
and was followed some six months laterby a French version (Cartwright,Vogen-
auer and Whittaker (eds), Regards comparatistes sur l’Avant-projet d e reŁforme du droit des
obligations et d e la prescription (Paris, 2010)).
The idea behindthe conference wasto draw together French and English scho-
lars to discuss these academic proposals on a number of themes within the law of
contracts, the law of civilwrongs and the lawof prescription. On each,an English
voice would respond to a French voice and hopefully a dialogue would emerge.
The ambitionwas admirable; the result, rather less so.What might have been for-
gotten in the process is that it takes two to dialogue.
Of the Ava nt-projet Catala itself (named after Pierre Catala, Professor Emeritus
at the Universite
ŁParis-II Panthe
Łon-Assas, and chairman of the working group
comprising30 -odd academics ^ amongthe most established in the¢eld in France
^ and a handful of retired judges), little need be said here, save to point out the
ambiguityof its purpose.While self-confessedly not aimed at reforming the law,
n
Law School, Universityof Glasgow
Reviews
108 6 r2010 The Author.The Modern Law Reviewr2010 The Modern LawReview Limited.
(2010)73(6) 1076^1092
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