Transnational Contract Law Principles in Swedish Case Law – PICC, PECL and DCFR

Abstract

Soft law instruments emerged in the field of general private law in the mid 1990s. These instruments are structured in the form of codes. They have not been passed unnoticed by anyone engaged in academic research in this field. The UNIDROIT Principles of International Commercial Contracts (PICC) seek to create a common private law ground with global applicability, whereas the Principles of European Contract Law (PECL) and the Draft Common Frame of Reference (DCFR) have had harmonisation of European private law as a primary goal. These instruments have of course also been processed by the academia in the Nordic countries, and have even been noticed in legislative preparatory works. More surprisingly, though, is the number of references to these principles made by the Swedish Supreme Court and in individual opinions rendered by Supreme Court Justices. So far there are eight cases – one from the year 2000 and then seven cases during the period of 2006–2012. This gives rise to some questions, such as why, how and when references to transnational private law instruments are made. These questions all gather under the over-arching legal theoretical issue of the normative value of these norms.