This book deals with life time contracts, the group of contracts which generally play the most important role in our daily life. These contracts establish social longterm relations which, with regard to certain periods of the
lifetime of individuals, provide essential goods, services, labour and income opportunities for self-realization and participation. The book questions the general principles of European contract law built onto the classical model
of sales contracts. It argues that a general life time contract should be integrated into the codification of modern private law and proposes a set of principles governing such social long-term relations. The book is divided into five parts: Introduction; Life Time in Contract Law; Labour Contracts; Consumer Credit Contracts; and Residential Tenancy Contracts. This book is the result of annual discussion meetings that took place between 2006-2013. Twenty-one members of the EuSoCo.eu research group from eleven countries participated in a multi-cultural project to provide a contractual model for the credit and service economy of the 21st century.