The continuing headlong increase in cross-border legal issues of all
kinds raises a host of new issues for private law even as it reconfigures the
old issues, both in theory and in practice. In an effort to identify trends
and consolidate what weand#8217;ve learned in this important area, outstanding legal
scholars from nine European countries (plus Australia) convened at the
University of Helsinki in August 2006. This volume reproduces, in definitive
English texts, twenty-two of the papers presented at that conference.

The issues addressed cluster around four basic questions:

• 
  To what extent does the multiculturalism of the European Union hamper the
  development of common private law rules?
  


• 
  Which rules that are specific for a particular state/region/culture need to be
  preserved?
  


• 
  To what extent can localism be met with variations in the application of
  common provisions?
  


• 
  What problems for the common rules are posed by the fact that they are to be
  implemented in a multilingual society?
  

While overarching concerns such as social justice, harmonization,
culture, and diversity pervade all the essays, such crucial practical
considerations as legal translation and regulation of advertising are not
neglected. The book will be welcomed by academics in the various fields of
private law everywhere, and will also be of uncommon interest to practitioners
in commercial and company law and to policymakers in many areas of government
regulation. The conference was organized by the PriME (Private Law in a
Multicultural and Multilingual European Society) research project at the
Department of Private Law and the Institute of International Economic Law
(KATTI) at the University of Helsinki.