Simulated Private Autonomy – Legislative and Judicial Filling of Gaps Left by Parties

• Applicant: Dr. Lukas Rademacher
• Subject Area: Private Law
• Term: from 2019 to 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 418508533

The work programme presented in the initial application has proven to be a valid basis for the project. The Special Part as outlined in the initial application (supplementary interpretation, default rules, fictitious declarations of intent, negotiorum gestio) has been finalized. The analysis of the principles of supplementary interpretation has shown that greater attention was to be paid to the tension between objective legal requirements and arguments derived from the parties’ private autonomy. In this conceptually important point, new considerations have broadened and deepened the object of investigation. The additional time spent on this issue is now required to complete the General Part. In addition, measures imposed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, namely the temporarily restricted access to libraries and to the workplace at the institute, have delayed the preparation of the Special Part.The General Part (general principles of simulated private autonomy, concurrence of supplementary mechanisms, re-evaluation of the role of hypothetical will of the parties), which builds on the Special Part, has been conceived; it is currently being finalized. In this respect, the proposed conception requires further justification which is the subject-matter of an additional chapter.Furthermore, the project has been touched at its core by the COVID-19 pandemic. The project has thus gained additional relevance as well as new impulses. The pandemic has confirmed the research approach. In terms of private law, the pandemic can only be overcome rationally within a coherent framework of contractual supplementary mechanisms. Thus, the contract law issues triggered by the pandemic can serve to verify and sharpen the theses developed in the General Part.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants