Varieties of Welfarism in European Contract Law

Abstract:  A scheme describing six welfarist directions in modern contract law is used to assess the extent to which current European measures that affect contract law have embraced these welfarist developments. Although some EC legislation may be interpreted as possessing elements of a limited welfarist perspective, it is concluded that bolder welfarist strands have proved largely absent. A European civil code or contract code would prove too static an instrument to promote the evolution of further welfarist developments.