Conference Materials and Speakers` CVs
Transcription
Conference Materials and Speakers` CVs
Welcome Table of Contents Programme . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Developments in Tort Law in Europe 2014 Friday, April 10, 2015 Dear Conference Participants! We are delighted to welcome you to the 14 Annual Conference on European Tort Law, which is organised jointly by the European Centre of Tort and Insurance Law (ECTIL) and the Institute for European Tort Law (ETL). For some of you, this will be your first time at the conference, while for others it has become a regular event in the calendar. Whichever category you fall in, we hope that this year’s conference will be an interesting and enjoyable experience for all of you! th Helmut Koziol Director, European Centre of Tort and Insurance Law Ernst Karner Acting Director, Institute for European Tort Law Barbara C STEININGER: Austria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Isabelle C DURANT: Belgium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Viktor TOKUSHEV: Bulgaria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Marko BARETIĆ: Croatia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Jiří HRÁDEK: The Czech Republic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Søren BERGENSER: Denmark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Annette MORRIS: England & Wales . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Irene KULL: Estonia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Päivi KORPISAARI: Finland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Michel SÉJEAN: France . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Jörg FEDTKE: Germany . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Eugenia G DACORONIA: Greece . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Attila MENYHÁRD: Hungary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Eoin QUILL: Ireland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Elena BARGELLI: Italy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Agris BITĀNS: Latvia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Simona SELELIONYTĖ-DRUKTEINIENĖ: Lithuania . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Giannino CARUANA DEMAJO: Malta . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Anne LM KEIRSE: The Netherlands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Knut Martin TANDE: Norway . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Ewa BAGIŃSKA: Poland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 André PEREIRA: Portugal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Christian ALUNARU: Romania . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Martin A HOGG: Scotland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Anton DULAK: Slovakia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Barbara NOVAK: Slovenia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Albert RUDA: Spain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Håkan ANDERSSON: Sweden . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Jaison PARAMPETT: Switzerland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Thomas THIEDE: European Union . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Ernst KARNER: Concluding Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Special Session: Dispersed, Low-Value Losses Saturday, April 11, 2015 Georg KODEK: Atomized Losses in Tort Law: Conceptual Difficulties and Modern Developments 26 Anton FAGAN: Distributed Damage. A South African and Common Law Perspective . . . . . . . . 26 Hans-Jürgen AHRENS: Injunctive and Compensatory Collective Redress Mechanisms against Restriction of Competition and Unfair Trade Practice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Franziska WEBER: Dispersed Losses in Tort Law – an Economic Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Curricula Vitæ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30. Contributors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 ETL and ECTIL Staff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 Conference Participants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 Additional Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 4 Programme Programme Programme 15:10 Coffee Break 15:30 Brief reports on the following jurisdictions: OPENING LECTURE: Opting FOR Tort Thursday, April 9, 2015 Austrian Ministry of Justice (Palais Trautson), Museumstrasse 7, 1070 Vienna Chair: Johann NEETHLING 18:00 Welcome Address Anton DULAK: Slovakia Håkan ANDERSSON: Sweden Barbara NOVAK: Slovenia Jaison PARAMPETT: Switzerland Albert RUDA: Spain Thomas THIEDE: European Union 16:45 Ernst KARNER: Concluding Summary (Discussion at the end of each presentation.) 19:30 Heurigen Evening 18:10 Simon WHITTAKER: Opting for Tort 19:15 5 Opening Reception Developments in Tort Law in Europe 2014 Special Session: Dispersed, Low-Value Losses Friday, April 10, 2015 Saturday, April 11, 2015 Austrian Supreme Court/Palace of Justice, Austrian Supreme Court/Palace of Justice, Schmerlingplatz 11, 1010 Vienna Schmerlingplatz 11 , 1010 Vienna Chairs: Monika HINTEREGGER and Bernhard A KOCH Chair: Jaap SPIER 09:00 Brief reports on the following jurisdictions: 09:00 Georg KODEK: Atomized Losses in Tort Law: Conceptual Difficulties and Modern Barbara C STEININGER: Austria Jiří HRÁDEK: The Czech Republic Developments Isabelle C DURANT: Belgium Søren BERGENSER: Denmark Viktor TOKUSHEV Bulgaria Annette MORRIS: England and Wales Marko BARETIĆ: Croatia Irene KULL: Estonia 10:30 Coffee Break 11:00 Hans-Jürgen AHRENS: Injunctive and Compensatory Collective Redress Mechanisms 10:40 Coffee break 11:00 Brief reports on the following jurisdictions: Anton FAGAN: Distributed Damage. A South African and Common Law Perspective Päivi KORPISAARI: Finland Attila MENYHÁRD: Hungary Michel SÉJEAN: France Eoin QUILL: Ireland Jörg FEDTKE: Germany Elena BARGELLI: Italy Eugenia DACORONIA: Greece Agris BITĀNS: Latvia 12:30 Lunch Break (light buffet provided) against Restriction of Competition and Unfair Trade Practice Franziska WEBER: Dispersed Losses in Tort Law – an Economic Analysis (Discussion at the end of each lecture.) 13:00Close For those interested, Jaap Spier will present the Climate Change Principles at 14:30 in the Seminar Room of the Institute for European Tort Law (Reichsratsstrasse 17/2, 1010 Vienna). If 13:30Brief reports on the following jurisdictions: you are interested in attending this optional event, please register at the information desk. Simona SELELIONYTĖ- Ewa BAGIŃSKA: Poland DRUKTEINIENĖ: Lithuania André PEREIRA: Portugal We kindly ask you to take the time to fill in the feedback forms provided at the end of the con- Giannino CARUANA DEMAJO: Malta Christian ALUNARU: Romania ference. The 15th Annual Conference on European Tort Law, again organized by the Institute for Anne LM KEIRSE: The Netherlands Martin A HOGG: Scotland European Tort Law and the European Centre of Tort and Insurance Law, will be held Thursday, Knut Martin TANDE: Norway March 31, to Saturday, April 2, 2016. 6 Developments in Tort Law in Europe 2014 14th Annual Conference on European Tort Law 7 Developments in Tort Law in Europe 2014 Barbara C Steininger Austria ▷▷ See Barbara C Steininger’s CV on page 40. Isabelle C DURANT ▷▷ See Isabelle C DURANT’s CV on page 33. Belgium Viktor TOKUSHEV Bulgaria Materials will be posted on the conference website (www.acet.ectil.org) when available. See Viktor TOKUSHEV’s CV on page 41. 8 Developments in Tort Law in Europe 2014 Marko BARETIĆ Croatia 14th Annual Conference on European Tort Law Court on illegality of monitoring and the Constitutional Court on the unconstitutionality of house searches. ▷▷ See Marko BARETIĆ’s CV on page 31. Conclusions of the Supreme Court: The Supreme Court agreed with the appeal as there are two issues which the court never decided on: (i) Whether Sec 314m of the Criminal Procedure Code may fulfil the condition of Sec 8 of the State Liability Act, ie to present a cancellation of the illegal decision: An illegal decision within the meaning of the State Liability Act is also such a decision within the criminal investigation the illegality of which was declared in a judgment of the Supreme Court adopted as result of a complaint for breach of law despite not cancelling such a decision. Therefore, a declaratory decision may also meet the condition of Sec 8 of the State Liability Act and in this sense, Sec 314m of the CPC may be deemed relevant. (ii) Whether a constitutional complaint which presents the only protection against the resolu- 9 tion on house searches fulfils the condition of Sec 8 of the State Liability Act. In connection with the vigilantibus iura scripta sunt principle, a person whose rights are violated by a decision of a state body can protect himself against such a decision by using defences with the goal of having the decision cancelled. A house search is always deemed an interference with the right to private and family life which is protected by Art 8 of the European Convention on the Protection of Human Rights. Moreover, under Art 13, each person shall obtain effective legal satisfactory means before the national body. In the case of unlawful decision on house search, the only possible means is a constitutional complaint. Even though the Constitutional Court is not a part of the court system, the constitutional complaint shall be deemed an effective protective means within the meaning of Art 13 of the Convention and Sec 8 of the State Liability Act. ▷▷ See Jiří HRÁDEK’s CV on page 35. Søren BERGENSER Denmark Materials will be posted on the conference website (www.acet.ectil.org) when available. See Søren BERGENSER’s CV on page 32. Jiří HRÁDEK The Czech Republic Decision of the Supreme Court on State Liability in Cases when No Defence is Possible (Case no 30 Cdo 4286/2013) Facts of the Case The claimant sought damages of CZK 100,000 (EUR€3,600) as satisfaction resulting from an illegal decision (Sec 8 of the State Liability Act) to search his house and his company’s offices, for his pre-trial detention as well as for personal and telecommunications monitoring. These actions were undertaken as part of the criminal prosecution proceedings which were found to be unjustified. The court of first instance as well as the appellate court rejected the claim for damages based on the fact that no decision had been abolished and therefore the fundamental condition for liability of the state for illegal decisions – abolishment of the decision in question - was not met. However, Czech law does not provide for ordinary means to abolish the particular decision on personal and telecommunications monitoring and on house searches. Nevertheless, despite the lack of rules on abolishing the decision, Czech law provides for specific means of protection which may be deemed relevant for the decision on damages within the state liability system, namely the decisions of the Supreme Annette Morris England and Wales 10 Developments in Tort Law in Europe 2014 14th Annual Conference on European Tort Law 11 ▷▷ See Annette Morris’ CV on page 37. Irene KULL Estonia ▷▷ See Irene KULL’s CV on page 37. 12 Developments in Tort Law in Europe 2014 Päivi KORPISAARI 14th Annual Conference on European Tort Law 13 Eugenia G DACORONIA Greece Finland ▷▷ See Eugenia G DACORONIA’s CV on page 33. Materials will be posted on the conference website (www.acet.ectil.org) when available. See Päivi KORPISAARI’s CV on page 36. Michel SÉJEAN France ▷▷ See Michel SÉJEAN’s CV on page 39. Jörg FEDTKE Germany Materials will be posted on the conference website (www.acet.ectil.org) when available. See Jörg FEDTKE’s CV on page 34. Attila MENYHÁRD Hungary Materials will be posted on the conference website (www.acet.ectil.org) when available. See Attila MENYHÁRD’s CV on page 37. 14 Developments in Tort Law in Europe 2014 Eoin QUILL 14th Annual Conference on European Tort Law Agris BITĀNS Ireland Latvia ▷▷ See Eoin QUILL’s CV on page 39. Elena BARGELLI Italy Materials will be posted on the conference website (www.acet.ectil.org) when available. See Elena BARGELLI’s CV on page 31. 15 16 Developments in Tort Law in Europe 2014 14th Annual Conference on European Tort Law 17 Giannino CARUANA DEMAJO Malta ▷▷ See Agris BITĀNS’ CV on page 32. Simona SELELIONYTĖ-DRUKTEINIENĖ Lithuania ▷▷ See Simona SELELIONYTĖ-DRUKTEINIENĖ’s CV on page 40. ▷▷ See Giannino CARUANA DEMAJO’s CV on page 32. 18 Developments in Tort Law in Europe 2014 14th Annual Conference on European Tort Law 19 Anne LM KEIRSE The Netherlands Materials will be posted on the conference website (www.acet.ectil.org) when available. See Anne KEIRSE’s CV on page 35. Knut Martin TANDE Norway The topic of this presentation is a case from the Norwegian Supreme Court (Rt 2014, 1192) regarding the principle of imputed contributory negligence. A driver died in a collision after driving his car negligently under the influence of alcohol and without a seat belt. When the driver´s partner and her child filed a claim for damages based on loss of maintenance, the insurance company stated that the award should be reduced because of contributory negligence by the deceased driver based on § 7 in the Norwegian Act on Motor Vehicle Insurance. Partly based on the need for coherence with the solution in other cases of contributory negligence, and partly based on social considerations, the Supreme Court reduced the award by 20 %, a modest reduction by Norwegian standards. The verdict is particulary interesting because of the indirect influence of EU case law. ▷▷ See Knut Martin TANDE’s CV on page 40. Ewa BAGIŃSKA Poland ▷▷ See Ewa BAGIŃSKA’s CV on page 31. 20 Developments in Tort Law in Europe 2014 14th Annual Conference on European Tort Law 21 André PEREIRA Portugal ▷▷ See André PEREIRA’s CV on page 38. Christian ALUNARU Romania Materials will be posted on the conference website (www.acet.ectil.org) when available. See Christian ALUNARU’s CV on page 30. Martin A HOGG Scotland 22 Developments in Tort Law in Europe 2014 14th Annual Conference on European Tort Law 23 Barbara NOVAK Slovenia Materials will be posted on the conference website (www.acet.ectil.org) when available. See Barbara NOVAK’s CV on page 38. Albert RUDA Spain ▷▷ See Martin A HOGG’s CV on page 35. Anton DULAK Slovakia ▷▷ See Anton DULAK’s CV on page 33. ▷▷ See Albert RUDA’s CV on page 39. 24 Developments in Tort Law in Europe 2014 Håkan ANDERSSON Sweden Materials will be posted on the conference website (www.acet.ectil.org) when available. See Håkan ANDERSSON’s CV on page 30. Jaison PARAMPETT Switzerland Thomas THIEDE European Union CJEU 04.09.2014, C-162/13 Vnuk v Zavarovalnica Triglav ▷▷ See Jaison PARAMPETT’s CV on page 38. » The concept of vehicle is defined in Art 1(1) of that directive, under which ‘vehicle’ within the meaning of that directive means ‘any motor vehicle intended for travel on land and propelled by mechanical power, but not running on rails, and any trailer, whether or not coupled’. Clearly, a tractor to which a trailer is attached satisfies that definition. In that regard, it is important to point out that that definition 14th Annual Conference on European Tort Law is unconnected with the use which is made or may be made of the vehicle in question. Consequently, the fact that a tractor, possibly with a trailer attached, may, in certain circumstances, by used as an agricultural machine has no effect on the finding that such a vehicle corresponds to the concept of ‘vehicle’ in Art 1(1) of the First Directive…. As regards whether the manoeuvre of a tractor in the courtyard of a farm in order to bring the trailer attached to that tractor into a barn is to be regarded as being covered by the concept of ‘use of vehicles’ referred to in that provision, it must be pointed out at the outset that that concept cannot be left to the assessment of each Member State…. As regards … the terms used in Art 3(1) of the First Directive, it is apparent from a comparative examination of the different language versions of that provision that it exhibits differences as regards the type of situation covered by the insurance obligation for which it provides, differences which are, moreover, to be found in the actual title of that directive, in particular in its English and French language versions.… Accordingly, in the French language version, as in the Spanish, Greek, Italian, Dutch, Polish and Portuguese language versions, Art 3(1) refers to the obligation to insure against civil liability in respect of the ‘circulation’ of vehicles, thus suggesting that that insurance obligation relates only to accidents caused in the context of road use…. However, the English language version and also the Bulgarian, Czech, Estonian, Latvian, Maltese, Slovakian, Slovenian and Finnish language versions of the same provision refer to the concept of ‘use’ of vehicles, without providing any further details, whereas the Danish, German, Lithuanian, Hungarian, Romanian, and Swedish language versions of that provision refer, even more generally, to the obligation to take out insurance against civil liability in respect of vehicles and thus appear to impose the obligation to insure against civil liability in respect of the use or operation of a vehicle, irrespective of whether that use or operation takes place in the context of a situation involving road use or not. 25 According to settled case-law, a purely literal interpretation of one or more language versions of a multilingual text of European Union law, to the exclusion of the others, cannot, however, prevail since the uniform application of European Union rules requires that they be interpreted, inter alia, in the light of the versions drawn up in all the languages …. It is therefore necessary, in the second place, to refer to the general scheme and purpose of the European Union legislation concerning compulsory insurance, of which Art 3(1) of the First Directive forms part. In that regard, it is important to point out that none of the directives relating to compulsory insurance contains a definition of what is meant by the concepts of ‘accident’, ‘use’ or even ‘use of vehicles’ for the purposes of those directives. However, those concepts must be understood in the light of the dual objective of protecting the victims of accidents caused by motor vehicles and of liberalising the movement of persons and goods with a view to achieving the internal market pursued by those directives …. « In the light of … the objective of protection pursued by the First to Third Directives, the view cannot be taken that the European Union legislature wished to exclude from the protection granted by those directives injured parties to an accident caused by a vehicle in the course of its use, if that use is consistent with the normal function of that vehicle…. Accordingly, … Art 3(1) of the First Directive must be interpreted as meaning that the concept of ‘use of vehicles’ in that article covers any use of a vehicle that is consistent with the normal function of that vehicle. That concept may therefore cover the manoeuvre of a tractor in the courtyard of a farm in order to bring the trailer attached to that tractor into a barn, as in the case in the main proceedings, which is a matter for the referring court to determine. « ▷▷ See Thomas THIEDE’s CV on page 41. Ernst KARNER Concluding Summary Materials will be posted on the conference website (www.acet.ectil.org) when available. See Ernst KARNER’s CV on page 35. 26 Special Session: Dispersed, Low-Value Losses Special Session: Dispersed, Low-Value Losses Georg KODEK Atomized Losses in Tort Law: Conceptual Difficulties and Modern Developments Materials will be posted on the conference website (www.acet.ectil.org) when available. See Georg KODEK’s CV on page 36. Anton FAGAN Distributed Damage. A South African and Common Law Perspective Materials will be posted on the conference website (www.acet.ectil.org) when available. See Anton FAGAN’s CV on page 34. Hans-Jürgen AHRENS Injunctive and Compensatory Collective Redress Mechanisms against Restriction of Competition and Unfair Trade Practice 14th Annual Conference on European Tort Law 27 28 Special Session: Dispersed, Low-Value Losses 14th Annual Conference on European Tort Law 29 Franziska WEBER Dispersed Losses in Tort Law – an Economic Analysis ▷▷ See Hans-Jürgen AHRENS’ CV on page 30. From an economic perspective tort law is to serve two important functions: deterrence of wrongdoers and victim compensation. We can easily construct examples of torts leading to small and widespread harm for which it is questionable whether a rational victim will initiate an individual lawsuit. This is mainly true because of rational apathy, free-riding problems and information asymmetries. Various solutions to these incentive problems are imaginable, the feasibility of which can be assessed by way of a cost-benefit-analysis: If we take obstacles to individual damage claims in the civil court as a starting point, various funding and insurance options are available with a view to improving the individual’s risk ratio. On top of looking for solutions within the court, we illustrate the potential of out-of-court dispute resolution mechanisms to capture small claims. Next, we consider the attribute “widespread” and, therefore, look at any solution that would involve grouping claims, thereby leading to costreductions for the individual. Models of class actions and representative actions alike have benefits but display other weaknesses in terms of their incentive structures. Public law enforcement functions in a way similar to grouping claims because a collective matter is dealt with in one proceeding and individuals are relieved of (most of) the litigation costs. It is particular to public law enforcement that additional in- vestigative powers enter the picture, able to cure information asymmetries as to the nature of wrongs – victims may not have noticed that they were harmed – and wrongdoers – they may try to hide to avoid legal consequences. New sanctions, such as fines, likewise, become available. Intertwining the two dimensions – private and public law enforcement – may generate additional benefits and some hybrid models will be discussed. Throughout the analysis we will differentiate cases of small and widespread and very small and widespread harm. For the latter the threat of collective compensation claims is neither credible nor economically feasible. This calls for an investigation of alternative remedies to compensation, such as skimming off procedures, fines or punitive damages that uphold the deterrent effect. The final solution is as of now still pending. Initiatives in different countries and at European level are ongoing. Clearly, whether a measure can successfully be implemented, ie in a lowcost way, depends upon the path a country has embarked upon – “path dependency”, therefore, constitutes another parameter in deciding which solution to prefer over another. ▷▷ See Franziska WEBER’s CV on page 41. 30 Curricula Vitæ 14th Annual Conference on European Tort Law Curricula Vitæ Hans-Jürgen AHRENS Universität Osnabrück Klopstockstr. 8 37085 Göttingen Germany Tel: (+49) 541 969 4545/ 4546 Fax: (+49) 541 969 4130 [email protected] Ahrens studied at the the universities of Göttingen and Tübingen from 1965-1969. He sat the first and second state examns in 1969 and 1974 respectively with the best possible performance in 1974. After obtaining his Dr. jur in 1974 in Göttingen, Ahrens was a research assistant from 1974-1981 at the University of Göttingen. He was awarded his Dr jur habil (Privatdozent) in 1981 in Göttingen (venia legendi for civil law, law of civil procedure, commercial law and private international law). Ahrens was admitted to the bar in 1984 and in 1983 he became a full professor at Osnabrück. Since 1994 Ahrens has been a Board member of the German Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property. Ahrens was a part-time judge at the Court of Appeal in Celle/Lower Saxony from 1995 to the end of 2010, a visiting Professor at the University of Nanjing/China in autumn 2004 and the Dean for affairs of study and teaching from 2004 to 2011. From 2007-2013 he was the Vice-president of the Lower Saxony State Examination Office for Legal Qualification. In January 2014 Ahrens received an award from the German Association for Legal Drafting for the developing of a Model Code on Intellectual Property. His research interests include: Law of Intellectual Property, Competition Law, Tort Law, Law of Civil Procedure (national and international). Christian ALUNARU Western University ‘Vasile Goldis’ Arad Faculty of Law Bdul Revolutiei, 94–96 310025 Arad Romania Tel/Fax: (+40) 257 210171 [email protected] Christian Alunaru is an Associate Professor and Dean of the Faculty of Law, Western University ‘Vasile Goldis’, Arad, Romania. He is also a practising barrister, Dean of the Arad Bar Association and a member of the UNBR Council (Romanian National Union of Bar Associations). Since 2011 he has been a fellow of the European Centre of Tort and Insurance Law (ECTIL) and a member of the ELI Council (European Law Institute). He has a PhD in civil law from ‘Babes-Bolyai’ University, Cluj, Romania. In 1998, he was awarded a scholarship to study at the University of Freiburg, Germany. He has published papers on property law, tort law, contract law and other aspects of civil law in journals and edited collections in Romania and several other countries (including articles on the influence of the Austrian Civil Code (ABGB) on civil law in Romania). He is also the author of a book on foreigners’ rights concerning real property in Romania. In 2013 he published a book about the new sales law in Romania at the Nomos publishing house. He is a member of the German Jurists’ Forum and also of the Austrian Jurists’ Forum. In 2010 and 2013 he was visiting professor at the University of Economics, Vienna. He has been a participant at ECTIL conferences since 2004. Håkan ANDERSSON Uppsala University Faculty of Law P.O. Box 512 SE-751 20 Uppsala Sweden Tel: (+46) 18 471 2001 [email protected] Håkan Andersson is a Professor of Private Law at Uppsala University. After graduating (LLD, Dr juris) in 1993 on a thesis in tort law (Purpose of Protection and Adequacy. On the Limits of Liability in Tort Law) he has developed his interest in the constructive use of newer philosophy in the field of private law, especially tort law. His research project ‘Transformation of the Legal Argumentation in Late Modernism’ is developing discourse theory and philoso- Ewa BAGIŃSKA Faculty of Law and Administration Gdańsk University Jana Bażyńskiego 6 80–952 Gdańsk Poland Tel: (+48) 606 961 601 or (+48) 58 523 2851 Fax: (+48) 58 523 27 41 [email protected] Marko BARETIĆ Faculty of Law of the University of Zagreb Trg maršala Tita 3 10000 Zagreb Croatia Tel: (+38) 5 1 4597 561 Fax: (+38) 5 1 4597 521 [email protected] Elena BARGELLI Faculty of Political Science Pisa University Via Serafini, 3 56126 Pisa Italy Tel: (+39) 50 2212458 Fax: (+39) 50 2212470 [email protected] 31 phy of language in direct contact with private law. Beside the thesis, he has also written a monograph on Third Party Losses (1997). In 2016 the third volume of his trilogy of books ‘Tort Law Developments’ (2,000 pages) will be published (the first two volumes, ‘Liability Issues’ and ‘Border Issues’ were published 2012-13); with these books the author performs a variety of close readings of case law in order to investigate distinctions and differentiations in the pluralistic discourse. (All the mentioned five books are written in Swedish). He has written more than 200 opuses. An up-to-date list of works (opus) is available at <www.jur.uu.se/AboutFacultyofLaw/Personal/Presentation/tabid/5384/language/en-US/Default.aspx?UserId=642>. Ewa Bagińska (Dr hab) holds the Chair of Civil Law at the School of Law and Administration of the University of Gdańsk. She was a Fulbright Visiting Scholar (1998/1999) and NATO Science Fellowship grantee (2000/2001) at the CUA Columbus School of Law, Washington, DC. She has authored a few books on products liability, public liability and medical law, as well as over 140 other contributions on civil liability, consumer protection and comparative law. Her recent book is entitled ‘Tort liability under uncertainty and complexity of causation. A comparative law study’ [in Polish] (2013). Ewa Bagińska worked for the Commission for the Codification of Civil Law. She is a member of the European Group on Tort Law, the International Academy of Comparative Law and the ELI (European Law Institute). She is also a member of the advisory boards of the European Review of Private Law and Wiadomosci Ubezpieczeniowe. Marko Baretić is an Associate Professor of Civil Law and Consumer Protection Law at the Faculty of Law of the University of Zagreb. He obtained his LLM (Pre-Contractual Liability) and PhD (Liability for Defective Products) degrees from the University of Zagreb. He also studied at the Asser College Europe, Asser Institute, The Hague, The Netherlands. He publishes on various topics in the fields of civil law, predominantly the law of obligations (contract law and tort law) and consumer protection law. He was active in negotiations of the Republic of Croatia for the accession to the EU as a member of the working group 28 (consumer protection and health). As a member of various legislative working groups, he actively participated in drafting the Croatian Obligations Act and the Consumer Protection Act. He is the representative of the Republic of Croatia in the working group III of UNCITRAL (online dispute resolution). He is also active in commercial arbitration. Elena Bargelli is currently an Associate Professor of Private Law at the University of Pisa, with tenure. In 2013 she was qualified as Full Professor by the national proceeding ‘National Scientific Qualification’. She was a Research Fellow of the Alexander von Humboldt Stiftung at the Max Planck Institut für ausländisches und internationales Privatrecht in Hamburg (2008-2009), visiting fellow at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, London (2011/2012) and at the Yale Law School, New Haven, USA (2007). From 2013 she has been a member of the ELI (European Law Institute) Council. Her areas of interest are contract law, tort law, consumer law, comparative law and European law. 32 Curricula Vitæ Søren BERGENSER Bergenser Advocate firma Østre Kanalgade 4 9000 Aalborg Denmark Tel: (+45) 21177472 [email protected] Giannino CARUANA DEMAJO Judges’ Chambers Courts of Justice Republic Street Valletta VLT 2000 Malta Tel: (+35) 6 2590 2281 Fax: (+35) 6 2124 2087 giannino.caruanademajo@ gov.mt 33 Eugenia G DACORONIA Søren Bergenser is an Assistant Professor at the University of Aalborg, Institute of Private Law, where he deals with professional and product liability and the liability of public authorities. Søren Bergenser holds a PhD from the University of Copenhagen and has been a research fellow at Duke University School of Law and at the Max Planck Institute of Private Law in Hamburg. Søren Bergenser graduated from Aarhus University in 1999 where he also worked as an Assistant Professor from 1997-1999. Søren Bergenser is also a practising lawyer and liability and insurance law, litigation and arbitration are his areas of expertise. Attorney-at-Law Associate Professor of Civil Law Athens University Law Faculty 18, Valaoritou St GR-10671 Athens Greece Tel: (+30) 210 2010011 Fax: (+30) 210 3639601 [email protected] Agris Bitāns graduated from the Faculty of Law at the University of Latvia with a Bachelor’s degree in law in 1993 and with a Master’s degree in law in 1995. As well as practising as an attorney-atlaw, he continues his academic studies at the University of Latvia for a doctorate degree. He also lectures at the Civil Law Department, Faculty of Law, University of Latvia. His area of expertise is the law of obligations, with a focus on contract law and civil liability, tort law, intellectual property law and Roman law. He is a co-author of the commentary on the Latvian Civil Code. He is the author of the book ‘Civil liability and its kinds’ (Civiltiesiska atbildiba un tas veidi) and of many articles relating to law issues. He is a member of the Latvian Bar, International Bar Association and AIPPI (International Association for the Protection of Industrial Property). Since 2008 Agris Bitāns has been the Council’s member of the Latvian Bar and since 2005 he has been the President of AIPPI Latvian National Group. Since his admittance to the Latvian Bar in 1998, he has been practising mostly in civil (contracts and tort), intellectual property, commercial and administrative matters. He is managing partner of the Law Firm ‘Eversheds Bitāns’. His fields of legal research include contract and tort law, personality law, medical law and media law. He is also a regular participant at international conferences and workshops dealing with intellectual property law, civil law, litigation and arbitration. Anton DULAK Agris BITĀNS University of Latvia Lecturer at Faculty of Law Raina bulvaris 19 Riga Latvia, LV 1586 Tel: (+371) 67280102 Fax: (+371) 67504566 [email protected] 14th Annual Conference on European Tort Law Giannino Caruana Demajo was born in Malta in 1958. He graduated in law (LLD) from the University of Malta in 1982 and was awarded a warrant to practise as Advocate in the Superior Courts in April of that year, after which he exercised the profession in private practice until 1994. He was appointed lecturer in Civil Law at the University of Malta in 1989 and Head of the Department of Civil Law in 1993. Between 1992 and 1994 he also served as Chairman of the Board of a commercial reinsurance company. In 1997 he was appointed Chairman of the Committee of Experts on Efficiency of Justice of the Council of Europe, a post he held until 1999, during which time he also served on the Committee of Experts advising on the drafting of the Enforcement Code of Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Code of Procedure of Moldova and the Civil Code of the Ukraine. In December 1994 he was appointed Judge of the Superior Courts, where he is Senior Administrative Judge since 2007 and Vice-Chairman of the Judicial Studies Board since 2009. Law Faculty College Danubius Richerova 1171 952 21 Sládkovičovo Slovakia Tel/Fax: (+421) 3717732841 [email protected] Eugenia Dacoronia graduated and received her doctorate with excellence from the Athens Faculty of Law. She has attended several courses abroad (Amsterdam, King’s College London, Tulane University). Since her admittance to the Athens Bar in 1981, she has been practising mostly in civil (contracts and real property), intellectual property, commercial and administrative matters. She has participated as an arbitrator or umpire at national and international arbitrations. She is also a European Patent Attorney. Since 2010, Eugenia Dacoronia has been an Associate Professor of Civil Law at the Athens University Department of Law. She teaches, among other subjects, General Principles of Civil Law, Real Property Law, Law of Environment, and Torts in the Legal System of the USA. She is the author of two books (in Greek) ‘Sublease of Movables’ and ‘The Issue of Construction of Wills under Greek Law’ and she has published various articles and notes on court decisions (in Greek, English and French). She has taken part in international congresses as a national representative and has participated in the Trento/Torino Common Core project as well as in the Study Group on a European Civil Code. She is a member of the Central Codification Committee of the Greek Parliament, a member of the European Group on Tort Law and Chairperson of the Supervisory Board of the Greek Independent Power Transmission Operator. After graduating in law in 1985, Dulak started to work at the Department of Civil Law at Comenius University, Bratislava, as an assistant. In 2001 he obtained his PhD degree. In 2003, Anton Dulak habilitated with a thesis on Product Liability Law and was promoted to an associate professor. He has attended courses at Cambridge University, University of Oslo and University Louvain la Neuve. He is a member of the Slovak Bar Association. In 2013 he was appointed Dean of the Law Faculty College Danubius. From 2007 he has been a member of the Ministry of Justice Recodification Commission for a new Civil Code. In January 2013 he was appointed the Chairman of this Commission. Isabelle C DURANT Université catholique de Louvain Faculté de droit et de criminologie Place Montesquieu 2 bte L2.O7. O1 B-1348 Louvain-la-Neuve Belgium Tel: (+32) 10 47 47 41 Fax: (+32) 10 47 47 32 [email protected] Isabelle Claire Durant studied law at the Université catholique de Louvain (UCL), where she was a teaching and research assistant from 1991 until 2004. She obtained her PhD degree in law in 2003 at this university and is currently Professor at the Department of Private Law. She teaches real property law, security law and contract law. Her main fields of research are tort, contract and real property. She has also contributed to several research projects for the Austrian Academy of Sciences’ Institute for European Tort Law and for the European Centre of Tort and Insurance Law in Vienna where she was on leave for work from October 2004 to March 2005. She is a member of the European Centre of Tort and Insurance Law (ECTIL) and is a guest of the European Group on Tort Law (EGTL). In addition, she was an attorney at the Brussels Bar from 1991 until 2004. 34 Curricula Vitæ 14th Annual Conference on European Tort Law Anton FAGAN University of Cape Town Faculty of Law Department of Private Law Private Bag X3 Rondebosch 7701 South Africa Tel: (+27) 21 650 3447 Fax: (+27) 21 650 577 [email protected] Anton Fagan is the WP Schreiner Professor of Law in the Law Faculty of the University of Cape Town. He has a BA and LLB from the University of Cape Town and an MA and DPhil from the University of Oxford. He spent a year as a Humboldt Research Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Foreign and International Private Law in Hamburg. He has written on the law of delict, constitutional law, and jurisprudence. He teaches the law of delict and jurisprudence. Jörg FEDTKE Tulane University School of Law John Giffen Weinmann Hall 6329 Freret Street New Orleans, LA 70118 United States Tel: (+1) 504 865 5977 and (+1) 504 616 9555 [email protected] Lehrstuhl für Common Law Juristische Fakultät Universität Passau 94030 Passau Tel: (+49) 851 5093470 [email protected] Jörg Fedtke joined the University of Hamburg in 2001 as a researcher at the Seminar für ausländisches und internationales Privat- und Prozessrecht. He moved to University College London in 2002, where he held the Chair for Comparative Law and the Directorship of the Institute of Global Law until 2008. He was also a Visiting Professor at The University of Texas at Austin between 2003 and 2008. Jörg Fedtke is now A.N. Yiannopoulos Professor in Comparative and International Law and Co-Director of the Eason-Weinmann Center for Comparative Law at Tulane University. He also holds the new Chair for Common Law at the University of Passau in Germany. Jörg Fedtke teaches and publishes in the areas of tort law, constitutional law, comparative methodology, and European Union law. He is a fellow of the European Centre of Tort and Insurance Law (ECTIL) in Vienna. Martin A HOGG School of Law University of Edinburgh Old College South Bridge Edinburgh EH8 9YL United Kingdom Tel: (+44) 131 650 2071 Fax: (+44) 131 62 0724 [email protected] Suvianna Hakalehto is an Associate Professor of Child law and Education law at the University of Eastern Finland where she is in charge of teaching tort law, constitutional law, family law, children’s rights and education law. Suvianna has a PhD in tort law from the University of Helsinki. Her thesis was on tort liability of public authorities. Suvianna worked as a researcher and university lecturer at the University of Helsinki from 1996-2011. From 2012-2013 she worked as a specialist counsel at the Mannerheim League for Child Welfare. Suvianna’s main fields of research are child law and children’s rights (especially the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and its implementation at the national level), tort law and education law. She is also interested in the South African legal system. Charles University Faculty of Law Prague Schönherr s.r.o. Nám Republiky 1079/1a 110 00 Praha Czech Republic Tel: (+42) 728 228224 Fax: (+42) 225 996555 [email protected] Ernst KARNER Institute for European Tort Law Reichsratsstraße 17/2 1010 Vienna Austria Tel: (+43) 1 4277 34880 Fax: (+43) 1 4277 34897 [email protected] Monika HINTEREGGER Department of Civil Law, Foreign Private and Private International Law Karl Franzens University Graz Universitätsstraße 15 Bauteil D/ IV 8010 Graz Austria Tel: (+43-316) 380 3322 monika.hinteregger@ uni-graz.at Monika Hinteregger is based in Graz, Austria. In October 1994 she was appointed Professor of Civil Law at the Department of Civil Law, Foreign Private and Private International Law of the Karl Franzens University Graz. From November 2003 until October 2013 she was President of the Senate of the Karl Franzens University Graz and from 2009 to 2013 Director of the Department. Her research activities focus on European and Austrian tort law, property law and family law. During her career she served several times as visiting professor at other universities in Europe (Hungary, Italy), USA (Rutgers Law School, Camden, New Jersey) and Asia (University of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia) and as legal advisor to the Austrian government concerning the drafting of legislation in the field of environmental and nuclear liability law as well as general tort law. She is a board member of the Austrian Lawyers Association (Österreichischer Juristentag) and the European Centre of Tort and Insurance Law. Since 2012 she has been Director of the Centre of European Private Law of the Karl Franzens University Graz. She is also Vice-Director of ETL. Martin Hogg is Professor of the Law of Obligations at the University of Edinburgh. He has written and published extensively in the obligations field since 1992, both from a national and comparative legal perspective. He is a contributor to the Digest of European Tort Law, as well as the European Tort Law Yearbook, and is a Fellow of the European Centre of Tort and Insurance Law (ECTIL). He is the Editor of the Edinburgh Law Review. Jiří HRÁDEK Suvianna HAKALEHTO University of Eastern Finland Joensuu Campus/Law School P.O. Box 111 80101 Joensuu Finland suvianna.hakalehto-wainio@ uef.fi 35 Anne LM KEIRSE Molengraaff Institute for Private Law Janskerkhof 12 3512 BL Utrecht The Netherlands Tel: (+31) 30 253 7192 Fax: (+31) 30 253 7203 [email protected] Jiří Hrádek is a researcher at the Centre of Comparative Law at the Faculty of Law of Charles University and an attorney-at-law at the Law office of Schönherr in Prague. He graduated in law from the Faculty of Law of Charles University (2002). Jiří Hrádek studied at the University of Hamburg (2000-2001), in the LLM programme at the Eberhard-Karls-University in Tübingen (2002-2003) and in the post-graduate programme of the Charles University (20022009). In 2002 and 2003 he completed research stays at the European Centre of Tort and Insurance Law (ECTIL) in Vienna; in 2007 he received an internship at the European Commission, DG Health and Consumer Protection. Jiří Hrádek is a member of the editorial board of the Czech journal Jurisprudence. He specialises in civil and procedural law, with a special focus on tort law. He is the author of a book on pre-contractual liability and he regularly publishes articles in Czech and foreign legal journals. Ernst Karner is Acting Director of the Institute for European Tort Law, Austrian Academy of Sciences and University of Graz as well as full Professor at the University of Vienna. Born in 1969, he studied law in Vienna (Dr jur 1997 with distinction) and completed his habilitation in 2004 with a thesis on bona fide acquisition. He is a member of the commission for the reform of Austrian tort law established by the Ministry of Justice and co-editor of the Journal of European Tort Law (JETL). He has written extensively in the fields of Austrian and European tort law and was granted several prizes including the Figdor-Preis of the Austrian Academy of Sciences and the Kardinal-Innitzer-Förderungspreis. Anne Keirse is a Professor of Private Law at the University of Utrecht and head of the Molengraaff Institute for Private Law. She is affiliated with the Utrecht Centre for Accountability and Liability Law (UCALL) and the Utrecht Centre for Regulation and Enforcement in Europe (RENFORCE). Born in 1975, she studied Law at the University of Groningen (1993-1997), where she also obtained her doctorate and became a (senior) lecturer (1997-2006). Before becoming a Professor in Utrecht (2008), she was appointed senior lecturer at the Radboud University of Nijmegen (2006-2008). 36 Bernhard A KOCH University of Innsbruck Innrain 52 6020 Innsbruck Austria Tel: (+43) 512 507-8110 Fax: (+43) 512 507-9885 [email protected] <www.zivilrechts.info> Georg KODEK Vienna University of Economics and Business Institut für Zivil- und Unternehmensrecht Gebäude D 3, 1. OG Welthandelsplatz 1 1020 Vienna Austria Tel: (+43) 1 31336 4650 Fax: (+43) 1 31336 714 [email protected] <www.wu.ac.at/privatrecht> Curricula Vitæ In 2013-2104 she was a visiting professor at the University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa. Alongside her academic work, she has been engaged in part-time judicial work, first as a registrar at the District Court in Assen, subsequently as a judge at the District Court in Groningen, thereafter as a judge at the Court of Appeal in Arnhem. She presently works part-time as a judge at the Court of Appeal in Amsterdam. She is a member of the European Group on Tort Law. Bernhard A Koch was born in 1966 in Feldkirch (Austria). He studied law in Innsbruck (Mag iur 1989), Tübingen (Germany, Dr iur summa cum laude 1992), and Michigan (USA, LLM 1993). He completed his habilitation for private law and comparative law in 1998. Bernhard A Koch started to work as an assistant at the University of Innsbruck in 1985, where he was awarded tenure in 1999. After two years on leave for work at ECTIL and the Austrian Academy of Sciences, he returned to Innsbruck, where he holds a chair in civil law. From 2004 to 2010, Bernhard A Koch was the Vice Director of the Austrian Academy of Sciences’ Institute for European Tort Law (ETL). He is the academic director of the University of Innsbruck medical law programme. Bernhard A Koch’s main fields of research are tort, contract, real property and family law. He is a member of the European Group on Tort Law. 14th Annual Conference on European Tort Law 37 Irene KULL University of Tartu Faculty of Law Naituse 20 50416 Tartu Estonia Tel: (+37) 2 7 375 060 Fax: (+37) 2 7 376 060 [email protected] Irene Kull is a Professor of civil law and holds the position of the head of the chair of commercial and intellectual property law. She participated in the Study Group on a European Civil Code as an advisor on the Working Teams and from 2010 she has been a member of the Expert Group on a Common Frame of Reference in the area of European contract law. She lectures on contract law, law of obligations and European contract and commercial law. She is a member of the group of authors of comments on Estonian Civil Code Acts (Law of Obligations Act, General Part of Civil Code Act). Her main interests include the general principles of contract and tort law, harmonisation of European private law and comparative contract law. She is an advisor on the civil chamber of the Estonian Supreme Court. Attila MENYHÁRD ELTE Faculty of Law Civil Law Department Egyetem ter 1-3 H-1364 Budapest Hungary Tel: (+36) 1 411 6510 [email protected] Georg E Kodek studied law at the University of Vienna and at Northwestern University School of Law. In 1991, he was appointed a district court judge in Vienna. After serving at the superior court of Eisenstadt and the Vienna Court of Appeals, in 2006 he was appointed to the Austrian Supreme Court. In addition, he is professor of civil and commercial law at the Vienna University of Economics and Business. He has published extensively in the fields of civil and commercial law and civil procedure law. Attila Menyhárd was born in 1968. He works at the University of Eotvos Lorand, Faculty of Law, Civil Law Department (Budapest) and he is also a practising lawyer. He earned his PhD degree in 2003 at the ELTE Law Faculty, Budapest with a thesis on immoral contracts. He habilitated in 2007 with his book on property law and his thesis on human rights in private law. He has been a full professor since 2012. He is the author of four books and more than one hundred other publications in tort law, contract law, property law, company law, law and economics and human rights in private law in Hungarian, English and German, in Hungary as well as abroad. His special research fields are: contract law, tort law and property law, company law, commercial law, law and economics, law and literature and human rights in private law as well as international commercial contracts, European business law and European company law. Upon the invitation of the Ministry of Justice he contributed to the project on a new Hungarian Civil Code being responsible for the provisions on property law and rent law. He is a participant in several international research projects and programmes. He is a registered member of the Arbitration Court of the Hungarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Budapest. Annette MORRIS Päivi KORPISAARI Professor Media Law University of Helsinki P.O. Box 4 (Yliopistonkatu 3) FI – 00014 University of Helsinki Finland [email protected] Päivi Korpisaari is Professor in Communication Law at the University of Helsinki at the Faculty of Law. She became Master of Law in 1993, Licentiate of Law in 2000, Doctor of Law in 2007 and Docent of Media and Communication Law in 2011. She worked as a legal trainee from 2004-2005 at the District Court of Riihimaki. She then worked as a presenting official at the Court of Appeal of Helsinki in the period 1995-1998. She worked as a Legal Counsel at the Finnish Soil Mechanics Association from 1998 to 2003. Päivi Korpisaari has been working as a researcher at the University of Helsinki since November 2003. Her main fields of research are tort law, media and communication law, personal data protection, constitutional law, human rights law and criminal law directed at ‘press offences’. Cardiff Law School Cardiff University Museum Avenue Cardiff, CF10 3AX United Kingdom Tel: (+44) 2920 874580 [email protected] Prior to joining Cardiff Law School as a lecturer in 2003, Annette Morris qualified as a barrister and worked as a policy researcher for the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers. Her research, which focuses on various aspects of civil justice, draws on the practical experience she has gained to date. She is best known for her work on the so-called ‘compensation culture’ in England and Wales. She is the module leader for Tort and also teaches Legal Foundations. She has previously taught both Legal Ethics and Commercial Legal Practice. She is a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Law and Society and the Subject Sections Secretary of the Society of Legal Scholars. She was previously the academic representative on the Civil Justice Council’s Personal Injury Committee; assistant editor of the Journal of Professional Negligence and the Convenor of the Society of Legal Scholars’ Tort subject section. 38 Curricula Vitæ 14th Annual Conference on European Tort Law Johann NEETHLING Department of Private Law Faculty of Law University of the Free State P.O. Box 339 Bloemfontein 9300 South Africa Tel.: (+27-12) 9971426 Fax: (+27-12) 9971426 [email protected] Johann Neethling is a Senior Professor of Law at the University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, and a former Dean and Emeritus Professor of Law at the University of South Africa, Pretoria. He holds the degrees of BA LLB (UFS), LLM (McGill) and LLD (Unisa). He is a member of the European Group on Tort Law, a Research Fellow of ECTIL, and a Senior Researcher of the Research School Ius Commune in Maastricht, Holland. He has an extensive research and publication record, including (co) authorship of seven legal books (the latest Neethling-Potgieter-Visser Law of Delict, 7th edn, 2015) and more than 290 contributions in other books and accredited law journals. He was editor of the Journal of Contemporary Roman-Dutch Law for 11 years, and is editor of LitNet Akademies (Regte), an online journal. He received various prizes for his research, inter alia a prize for legal science from the South African Academy for Science and Arts for his books on delict, personality rights and unlawful competition. In 2008 and 2014 he received a B1 rating as researcher from the South African National Research Foundation for enjoying considerable international recognition for the high quality and impact of his research outputs, and as a leading scholar in his field. Barbara NOVAK University of Ljubljana Faculty of Law Poljanski nasip 2 SI – 1000 Ljubljana Slovenia Tel: (+38) 61 42 03 141 Fax: (+38) 61 42 03 115 [email protected] Barbara Novak is a professor at the Faculty of Law, University of Ljubljana. She studied in Ljubljana and obtained her Doctorate in Law (LLD) in 1998 with a degree thesis: Educational and Upbringing Process from the Point of View of Family and Civil Law. She teaches and writes in the area of civil law, especially in the area of tort law, family law and law of personal rights. Jaison Parampett was born in Wil SG (Switzerland) in 1986. He studied law at the University of Zürich while he was also working for an international Swiss bank. After graduating in 2014 with a Master’s degree with a focus on tort and insurance law amongst others, he started his training as a lawyer in the legal department of a Swiss bank. He participates in the 14th Annual Conference on European Tort Law as the representative of Prof Dr Peter Loser. André PEREIRA University of Coimbra Faculty of Law 3004-545 Coimbra Portugal Tel: (+35) 1 239 859802 Fax: (+35) 1 239 821043 [email protected] University of Limerick School of Law Limerick Ireland Tel: (+35) 3 61 20 2220 Fax: (+35) 3 61 20 2682 [email protected] Albert RUDA Jaison PARAMPETT Höhenstrasse 47 9500 Wil Switzerland Tel: (+41) 78 717 10 39 [email protected] Eoin QUILL Professor of Law at the University of Coimbra (Portugal), teaching Family Law, Law of Successions, General Theory of Civil Law, Tort Law, Medical Law and Pharmaceutical Law. PhD in law (summa cum laude) with a thesis on Medical Liability and Patients’ Rights, his academic career started with the graduation in Law at the University of Coimbra (awarded Prof Manuel de Andrade for best student [1992-1997]); attended courses in law in Göttingen (1996), Utrecht (1999) and Helsinki (2000); he has a post-graduate degree in Medical Law (1999) and a post-graduate degree in Civil Law (2002), and defended his Master’s thesis: ‘Informed Consent in Patient-Doctor Relationship’ (2003 [400 pages]). His languages skills, besides his mother tongue (Portuguese), include fluency in English, Spanish, German and French. University of Girona Facultat de Dret Campus de Montilivi 17071 Girona Spain Tel: (+34) 972 41 97 68 Fax: (+34) 972 418 121 [email protected] Michel SÉJEAN University of Southern Brittany Faculty of Law Campus de Tohannic BP 573 F-56017 Vannes Cedex France Tel: (+33) 6 62 84 47 45 [email protected] 39 He is Director of the Centre for Biomedical Law, researcher at the University of Coimbra Institute for Legal Research, Member of the National Ethics Committee for Clinical Research and Member of the National Council of Ethics for Life Sciences. He is participates in other Ethics committees: Vice-President of the Institutional Review Board of AIBILI, Member of the Council of Bioethics of the Portuguese Society of Human Genetics, Member of the IBMCINEB Animal Ethics Committee (Oporto) and Member of ORBEA - Animal Ethics Committee of the University of Coimbra. At the international level, he is a Fellow of ECTIL (European Centre of Tort and Insurance Law, Vienna, Austria); invited Professor at the Summer School on European Private Law (Salzburg, Austria); invited Professor at the Summer School on Medical Law (Toulouse, France) and Treasurer and Member of the Executive Committee of the World Association for Medical Law and Program Chair of the 21st World Congress on Medical Law. Eoin Quill was born in Limerick in 1965. He studied law at University College Cork, a constituent college of the National University of Ireland, between 1982 and 1988 obtaining two bachelors and a masters degree – BCL; LLB; LLM. He lectured at the School of Professional and Management Studies in Limerick from 1988-1990 and has been lecturing in the University of Limerick since 1991 in a variety of subjects including Tort, Commercial Law and Comparative Civil Obligations. His publications include Torts in Ireland (Gill & Macmillan 1999, 4th edn 2014), Tort Law in Ireland (Kluwer 2015) and a variety of journal articles and chapters in edited books on issues in tort. He is currently an examiner in Tort for the Law Society of Ireland and a Member of the International Commercial & Economic Law Group, University of Limerick. Albert Ruda is Senior Lecturer in Private Law at the University of Girona. He is Deputy Dean at the Faculty of Law and a member of the Institute of European and Comparative Private Law of the same University, fellow of the European Centre of Tort and Insurance Law (ECTIL, Vienna), secretary of the Group of Studies in Legal Drafting (GRETEL), member of the Spanish Network on European and Comparative Private Law (REDPEC), and elected member of the Council of the European Law Institute (ELI). He has authored or co-authored more than 60 works mainly in the fields of tort law, contract law or property law. Michel Séjean is a Professor of Private Law at the University of Southern Brittany (Université de Bretagne-Sud), with full professorship (agrégé des Facultés de droit). Before his PhD in Private Law of Obligations, he graduated from Indiana University in Bloomington (School of Public and Environmental Affairs) and from the Higher Institute of Interpretation and Translation (Institut Supérieur d’Interprétation et de Traduction, Paris). He has practised professional Legal Translation for over ten years. On the occasion of a six-month visit at Louisiana State University (2009), he translated into French the Principles of European Tort Law (O Moréteau (ed), Paris, 2011), and worked on the translation into French of the Louisiana Civil Code, as well as the Draft Common Frame of Reference. He is the Editor-in-Chief of the Henri Capitant Law Review (<http://henricapitantlawreview.fr>), a leading 40 Simona SELELIONYTĖDRUKTEINIENĖ Mykolas Romeris University Ateities g. 20 LT-08303 Vilnius Lithuania Tel: (+370) 5 27 14 625 Fax: (+370) 5 26 76 000 [email protected] Curricula Vitæ bilingual Journal of French Civil Law in English and French. He has also contributed to the latest 2015 update of the English version of the French Commercial Code. Simona Selelionytė-Drukteinienė is currently an Associate Professor of Private Law at the Faculty of Law of Mykolas Romeris University, Vilnius. She studied law at Vilnius University and in 2002 obtained the Master of Laws degree. She completed and defended her thesis on public liability at Mykolas Romeris University in 2008. Her spheres of interest include tort law, contract law, public liability and personality rights issues. Simona SelelionytėDrukteinienė is also a practising lawyer. 14th Annual Conference on European Tort Law Thomas THIEDE Institute for European Tort Law Reichsratsstraße 17/2 1010 Vienna Austria Tel: (+43) 1 4277 29658 Fax: (+43) 1 4277 29670 [email protected] <www.thomasthiede.info> Jaap SPIER Hoge Raad der Nederlanden 2582 RL Den Haag The Netherlands [email protected] Barbara C STEININGER Institute for European Tort Law Reichsratsstraße 17/2 1010 Vienna Austria Tel: (+43) 1 4277 29661 Fax: (+43) 1 4277 29670 barbara.steininger@ uni-graz.at Mag. Iuris, Erasmus University Rotterdam; Attorney at the Bar of Rotterdam until 1977. Lecturer of private law at Leyden University (1977–1981); Company lawyer, Unilever NV (1982–1989); Professor of private and commercial law, Tilburg University (1989–1999; after appointment in the Supreme Court part time); Attorney-General in the Supreme Court of The Netherlands (as from 1997), Honorary professor at Maastricht University (as from 1999). PhD (Doctor iuris) Leyden University 1981. Founder and honorary President of the European Group on Tort Law. Author and editor of books and articles on tort law, insurance law and private law and since 2000 sustainable development, climate change, judicial activism and the eradication of poverty. Most extensive publications on climate change: Jaap Spier, Shaping the Law for Global Crises (2012); Jaap Spier, Opportunities and Challenges: Thoughts about a Potentially Promising Legal Vehicle to Stem the Tide (in: Jaap Spier and Ulrich Magnus (eds), Climate Change Remedies (2014)). Co-founder of expert group on climate change principles. Barbara C Steininger is Assistant Professor at the Institute for European Tort Law of the Austrian Academy of Sciences and the University of Graz (ETL). She studied law and Dutch Studies in Vienna and Leiden and worked as a student assistant at the Department of Roman Law and Antique Legal History, University of Vienna. She finished her doctoral thesis in 2005. Barbara Steininger has been employed at the European Centre of Tort and Insurance Law (ECTIL) in Vienna, the Département d‘histoire du droit et des doctrines juridiques et politiques, University of Geneva, and at ETL. She is currently working on her habilitation. Barbara Steininger is a member of ECTIL and a fellow of the European Law Institute. Knut M TANDE University of Bergen Faculty of Law Magnus Lagabotesplass 1 Bergen Norway Tel: (+475) 55589551 [email protected] Knut Tande is an Associate Professor and Vice Dean at the Faculty of Law of the University of Bergen. His main topics for teaching and research are copyright law, legal methodology and tort law. For several years he has been a member of The National Committee for Research Ethics in the Social Sciences and the Humanities (NESH). 41 Thomas Thiede studied Law, Economics and Political Sciences at the Ernst Moritz Arndt University of Greifswald (Germany) where he obtained his Bachelor of Laws in 2003. He then went on to complete a Master of Laws (Comparative and EU Law) at the same institution followed by his First State Exam (Referendarsexamen) in October 2006. Following this and having taken a position as a scientific assistant at the Institute for European Tort Law of the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna, he began his doctoral studies. His thesis focused on the protection of personality rights from invasion by the mass media particularly in the context of cross border conflict of laws problems within Europe. In 2010 he was awarded his doctorate degree with distinction as well as the 2011 Franz-Gschnitzer Förderungpreis administered by the University of Innsbruck and was promoted to a Junior Scientist at the Austrian Academy of Sciences. In the beginning of 2013 he joined the ranks of lecturers at the Centre for European Private Law of the Austrian Academy of Sciences and the University of Graz and holds courses and lectures on Comparative Law and Conflict of Laws. Viktor TOKUSHEV University of Sofia Faculty of Law 5 Bacho Kiro str, ent B, ap 6 1000 Sofia Bulgaria Tel: (+359) 888 603 090 Fax: (+359) 2 980 61 40 [email protected] Viktor Tokushev is assistant professor in Civil and Commercial at the Law Faculty of Sofia University. He was born in Sofia (Bulgaria) in 1978. He studied law in Sofia University and graduated with honours in 2002. In the following year he specialised in ‘Legal English and Writing for Global Lawyers’ at the Boston University, London Center (London). He further developed his interest in private law by participating in the development of more than 50 legislation projects for the 39th National Assembly of Bulgaria. Since 2005 he has run a law office, ‘Tokushev and Partners’ in which he is a managing partner. He acquired his doctorate degree in 2012 with a thesis on Special Purpose Investment Companies which was published in the same year. From 2012 he has been a lecturer on Capital Markets Law at Sofia University. He is a fellow of the European Centre of Tort and Insurance Law (ECTIL, Vienna). Franziska WEBER Universität Hamburg Fakultät für Rechtswissenschaft Institut für Recht und Ökonomik Johnsallee 35 20148 Hamburg Deutschland Tel: (+49) 42838-7845 Fax: (+49) 42838-6794 franziska.weber@ uni-hamburg.de Since October 2013 Franziska Weber has been a Junior Professor for Civil Law and Law & Economics at the University of Hamburg, Germany and Research Fellow at the Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Prior to her appointment in Germany, she was a post-doc researcher at the Private Law Department, Erasmus University Rotterdam, within the BACT (Behavioural Approaches to Tort and Contract Law) research programme. Her main fields of interest concern the law and economics of German and European consumer law enforcement. She successfully defended her European Doctorate in Law and Economics (EDLE) PhD thesis regarding the optimal mix of public and private enforcement in consumer law in 2012 at Erasmus University Rotterdam (research visits within the EDLE-program: University of Bologna (Oct 2009 - June 2010); University of Stockholm (August 2009); Pompeu Fabra University Barcelona (Jan 2012 - July 2012)/parttime Cuatrecasas). Weber gained her Bachelor of European and Comparative Law at the Universities of Oldenburg and Bremen, which included a study visit at the University of Sheffield. She subsequently gained work experience as an advisor for the IHK Nord - Representation of Northern German Chambers of Commerce 42 Simon WHITTAKER St. John’s College, University of Oxford St Giles, Oxford, England OX1 3JP United Kingdom Tel: (+44) 1865 277300 [email protected]. uk Curricula Vitæ and Industry, Brussels. She completed her LL.M. ‘Master European Law School’ at the University of Maastricht cum laude (top 3%) in 2008. In 2011 she was admitted to the bar in Madrid as a Spanish lawyer. Simon Whittaker is Fellow and Tutor in Law at St. John’s College and Professor of European Comparative Law at the University of Oxford. He studied law at Oxford (BA 1979; BCL 1980; DPhil 1987) and was until 1987 a law lecturer at King’s College London (1982-87); he was awarded the degree of DCL by Oxford in 2008. He has written widely on the English law of contract and tort and on comparative law and EU law topics within the same areas, including Liability for Products: English Law, French Law and European Harmonization (OUP, 2006); (with R Zimmermann) Good Faith in European Contract Law (CUP, 2000); (with J Bell and S Boyron) Principles of French Law (1st edn, 1998; 2nd edn, 2008); he has been an editor of Chitty on Contracts since 1989. A list of his recent publications may be found at <https://www.law.ox.ac. uk/profile/whittakers>. Opening Lecture ECTIL and ETL Staff Helmut Koziol Ernst Karner Sonja Akbal Johannes Angyan Edina Busch Toth Simona Buss Denan Dukic Barbara Gassner Benedikt Graf Izabela Adrych-Brzezinska University of Gdansk Gdansk, Poland Simon Whittaker European Tort Law Yearbook 2014 Suvianna Hakalehto Martin A Hogg Jiří Hrádek Ernst Karner Anne LM Keirse Jonas Knetsch Bernhard A Koch Päivi Korpisaari Katarzyna Krupa-Lepinska Irene Kull Janno Lahe Peter Loser Luis Duarte Manso Attila Menyhárd Annette Morris Barbara Novak Ken Oliphant Journal of European Tort Law Forthcoming Special Issue on Dispersed, Low-Value Losses Hans-Jürgen Ahrens Anton Fagan 43 Kathrin Karner-Strobach Christa Kissling Alexander Longin Eva Ondreasova Julian Pehm Fiona Salter Townshend Barbara C Steininger Marlene Steininger Donna Stockenhuber Thomas Thiede David Ullram Vanessa Wilcox Emma Witbooi Lisa Zeiler Conference Participants Contributors Christian Alunaru Bjarte Askeland Håkan Andersson Ewa Bagińska Marko Baretić Elena Bargelli Søren Bergenser Agris Bitāns Andreas Bloch Ehlers Lucian Bojin Giannino Caruana Demajo Eugenia G Dacoronia Gregor Dugar Anton Dulak Isabelle C Durant Jessy M Emaus Jörg Fedtke 14th Annual Conference on European Tort Law Georg Kodek Franziska Weber André Pereira Ronen Perry Eoin Quill Lawrence Quintano Albert Ruda Loreta Šaltinytė Michel Séjean Simona SELELIONYTĖDRUKTEINIENĖ Barbara C Steininger Christian Takoff Knut Martin Tande Thomas Thiede Viktor Tokushev David Zammit Cristina Amato University of Brescia Brescia, Italy Dirk Angenend R + V Allgemeine Versicherung AG Wiesbaden, Germany Natalia Anikina Moscow, Russia Bjarte Askeland University of Bergen Bergen, Norway Kristina Astromske Lithuanian University of Health Sciences Kaunas, Lithuania Paulius Astromskis Vytautas Magnus University Kaunas, Lithuania Helmut Aulitzky Risiko & Schaden Management GmbH Innsbruck, Austria Philip Aumüllner Federation of Austrian Industries Vienna, Austria Stefanie Berkel Ecclesia Group Detmold, Germany Lucian Bojin Valentin & Asociatii S.C.A. Timisoara, Romania Witold Borysiak University of Geneva Geneva, Switzerland Markus Bunk Österreichische Bankwissenschaftliche Gesellschaft Vienna, Austria Jonathan Cardi Wake Forest University Wake Forest, U.S.A. Johanna Chamberlain Uppsala University Uppsala, Sweden Jan Cilínek Peopil Prague, Czech Republic Magdalena Cilínková Peopil Prague, Czech Republic Giuseppe Citarella University of Trieste Trieste, Italy John D. Clifford Kaplan Law School London, United Kingdom Maresa Cronje University of Pretoria Pretoria, South Africa Alessandro D’Adda Catholic University Milan Milan, Italy Hendrik Dammann Ecclesia Group Detmold, Germany Pedro Del Olmo University Carlos III Madrid, Spain Markus Dienstkoch Peter L. Botham GmbH, AVUS Group Vienna, Austria 44 Dóra Dobos Eötvös Lorand University Budapest, Hungary Ina Ebert Munich Reinsurance Munich, Germany David Elischer Charles University Prague, Czech Republic Olivér Fábián Eötvös Lorand University Budapest, Hungary Daniela Maria Frenda Catholic University Milan Milan, Italy Dalma Frigyes Eötvös Lorand University Budapest, Hungary Anne Marie Frøseth University of Bergen Bergen, Norway Ilze Gailite Motor Insurers’ Bureau of Latvia Riga, Latvia Magdalena Georgieva Lateva Sofia Electrical Public Transport Company JSC Sofia, Bulgaria Tobias Gerber Ecclesia Group Detmold, Germany Israel Gilead The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Jerusalem, Israel Michael D. Green Wake Forest University School of Law Winston Salem, U.S.A. Baiba Gribuste Motor Insurers’ Bureau of Latvia Riga, Latvia 14th Annual Conference on European Tort Law Aza Gubaeva Saint Petersburg State University Saint Petersburg, Russia Villu Kõve Supreme Court of the Republic of Estonia Tartu, Estonia Maibritt Hauge Garval University of Aalborg Aalborg, Denmark Frédéric Krauskopf University of Bern Bern, Switzerland Alfred Heiter Federation of Austrian Industries Vienna, Austria F. Theo Kremer Insurers’ Institute on Personal Injury Claims Den Haag, Netherlands Sabina Hellborg Uppsala University Uppsala, Sweden Marjan Kristof Grazer Wechselseitige Versicherung AG Graz, Austria Harry Henschen VVAA Medirisk Zeist, Netherlands Attila Hollósi Eötvös Lorand University Budapest, Hungary Mario Hössl University of Vienna Vienna, Austria Florian Hule Austrian Law Forum Vienna, Austria Edward Hyslop University of Luxembourg Luxembourg Arturo Ibanez Leon Oxford University Oxford, United Kingdom Kim Jensen University of Aalborg Aalborg, Denmark Eszter Jojart Eötvös Lorand University Budapest, Hungary Kinga Kajcsos Eötvös Lorand University Budapest, Hungary Raoul Kneucker Vienna, Austria Janis Kubilis University of Latvia Riga, Latvia Ants Kull Supreme Court of the Republic of Estonia Tartu, Estonia Wolfgang Kuntzl Ecclesia GrECo Hospital Versicherungsmakler GmBH Vienna, Austria Melinda Leinholz University of Graz Graz, Austria Bent Liisberg University of Bergen Bergen, Norway Katarzyna LudwichowskaRedo Nicolaus Copernicus University Torun, Poland Ulrich Magnus University of Hamburg Hamburg, Germany Fanni Márkus Eötvös Lorand University Budapest, Hungary Colm Peter McGrath London, United Kingdom 45 David Messner University of Vienna Vienna, Austria Petra Pipková Charles University Prague, Czech Republic Beatrix Schima University of Vienna Vienna, Austria Dániel Nagy Eötvös Lorand University Budapest, Hungary Lawrence Quintano The Law Courts La Valletta, Malta Susanna J. Scott University of South Africa Pretoria, South Africa Adél Németh Eötvös Lorand University Budapest, Hungary Stephan Radner Austrian Law Forum Vienna, Austria Tobias J. Scott University of Pretoria Pretoria, South Africa Kazuyoshi Nonomura Doshisha University Kyoto, Japan Mustafa Rajab Arab Insurance Consultants Abu Dhabi, Arabian Emirates Kristóf Sohajda Eötvös Lorand University Budapest, Hungary Ken Oliphant University of Bristol Bristol, United Kingdom Simon Ramlau-Hansen University of Aalborg Aalborg, Denmark Işik Önay Koc University Law School Istanbul, Turkey Patrick Richters Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection Berlin, Germany Jadranka Stanišić Supreme Court of the Republic of Srpska Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegowina Eva Ondřejová Charles University Prague, Czech Republic Zsófia Ottóffy Eötvös Lorand University Budapest, Hungary Solveiga Paleviciene Mykolas Romeris University Vilnius, Lithuania Tekla Papp National University of Pubic Service Budapest, Hungary Martin Peiffer General Reinsurance AG Cologne, Germany Richard Peltz-Steele University of Massachusetts Law School North Dartmouth, U.S.A. Reinhard Pesek University of Vienna Vienna, Austria Daiwa Petrauskaite Office of the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania Vilnius, Lithuania Nicola Rizzo University of Pavia Pavia, Italy Emma Roberts University of Chester Chester, United Kingdom Stephan Rödler Vienna, Austria Nicholas J. Roenneberg Munich Reinsurance Munich, Germany Maria Roeske Adam Mickiewicz University Poznán, Poland Sigita Rudenaite Supreme Court of Lithuania Vilnius, Lithuania Andrés Ruiz-Feger Munich Reinsurance Munich, Germany Martha Sampson University of Chester Chester, United Kingdom Slobodan Stanišić Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegowina Anna-Zoe Steiner University of Vienna Vienna, Austria Karolina Stenlund Uppsala University Uppsala, Sweden Christian Takoff University of Sofia Sofia, Bulgaria Egidija Tamosiuniene Appeal Court of Lithuania Vilnius, Lithuania Levente Tattay Catholic University “Pázmány Péter” Budapest, Hungary Lubos Tichy Charles University Prague, Czech Republic Agne Tikniute Mykolas Romeris University Vilnius, Lithuania Balázs Tőkey Eötvös Lorand University Budapest, Hungary 46 14th Annual Conference on European Tort Law Bostjan Tratar State Attorney’s Office Ljubljana, Slowenia Michael Vothknecht Ecclesia Group Detmold, Germany Petra Witzl Eötvös Lorand University Budapest, Hungary Verica Trstenjak University of Vienna Vienna, Austria Philipp Weber Federal Office of Justice Bern, Switzerland Aojie Zhou Sichuan University Chengdu, China Age Värv University of Tartu Tartu, Estonia Christiane Wendehorst University of Vienna Vienna, Austria Giacomo Vergallo University of Pisa Pisa, Italy Bénédict Winiger University of Geneva Geneva, Switzerland 47 Additional Resources Journal of European Tort Law (JETL) JETL aims to contribute to the analysis and development of tort law in Europe by the publication of scholarly articles, comments and reviews. It has a primarily comparative focus, but willingly embraces all scholarly perspectives, including economic analysis of law and legal sociology. Its subject matter extends beyond substantive tort law to the wider tort system, including private and social insurance. The Editorial Board consists of: Ken Oliphant, Vienna and Bristol (General Editor); Ernst Karner, Vienna; Bernhard A Koch, Innsbruck (Deputy General Editor) and Christiane Wendehorst, Vienna. JETL is published by de Gruyter (Berlin/ Boston) – three issues annually. Every year, issue two contains revised versions of the papers delivered at the special session of the Annual Conference on European Tort Law. www.eurotort.org EUROTORT is the first comprehensive database of European cases on tort law (www.eurotort. org). This web-based research tool allows both researchers and practitioners to access the enormously varied jurisprudence on tort law in Europe in a single language (English) and with a standardised index system. After registration, access to the database is free of charge. At present, the collection contains almost 3,400 decisions from 30 European countries, all categorised and indexed. The database can be searched by jurisdiction, time period, keyword, full text, or any combination thereof. The materials are drawn from cases reported in the ‘Tort and Insurance Law Yearbook’ series, co-published by ECTIL and ETL, and the ‘Digest of European Tort Law’ series (ETL). Updates are added on an ongoing basis. The cases are selected by experts from the respective jurisdictions. They also draft the English texts, which summarise the facts of the chosen cases and the decision of the court. www.europeantortlaw.net For the latest information on developments in European Tort Law please visit the websites of the Institute for European Tort Law (www.etl.oeaw.ac.at) and the European Centre of Tort and Insurance Law (www.ectil.org). Moreover, a blog provides up-to-date information which can also be followed via smartphones and RSS-Readers (www.europeantortlaw.net). Conference Locations Thursday, April 9, 2015 Austrian Ministry of Justice (Palais Trautson), Museumstrasse 7 1070 Vienna Friday, April 10, 2015 and Saturday, April 11, 2015 Austrian Supreme Court/Palace of Justice, Schmerlingplatz 11 1010 Vienna Map: wien.at