Liability Law for Failed Contract Negotiations: A Comparative, Structural, and Historical Analysis

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Tom Hick

Liability Law for Failed Contract Negotiations

A Comparative, Structural, and Historical Analysis

Tom Hick

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Hardback

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English

Routledge
28 August 2025

Law & society; Private international law & conflict of laws; Contract law

This book provides the European structure of liability for failed contract negotiations through a comparative lens, with wider lessons for an international context.

The book demonstrates that all the analyzed legal systems, in Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands, can be best understood through a binary structure in their approach to pre-contractual liability, or culpa in contrahendo. This structure consists of two key elements: first, a general liability framework that allows for compensation of pure economic loss based on certain qualified conduct, such as negligence; and second, an implicit obligation to contract, which, though not explicitly recognized, is presumed in most systems. The book argues that this dual framework provides valuable insights into ongoing scholarly debates and the challenges practitioners face in cases of failed contract negotiations. Drawing on these insights, it proposes a more effective approach to the obligation to contract: one that encourages parties to collaborate in reaching an agreement voluntarily rather than imposing one upon them.

This book will be of interest to researchers in the field of comparative contract and tort law, European private law, and private law theory.

By: Tom Hick
Imprint: Routledge
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 234mm, Width: 156mm,
Weight: 590g
ISBN: 9781032956688
ISBN 10: 1032956682
Pages: 220
Publication Date: 28 August 2025
Audience: College/higher education , Further / Higher Education
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Tom Hick is Senior Research Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for comparative and international private law in Hamburg. He conducts research on comparative law of obligations, comparative succession law, and private law theory with a focus on questions relating to social justice and sustainability. Previously, he has been a research and teaching assistant at the Institute for the Law of Obligations at the KU Leuven, Belgium, where he defended his doctoral dissertation in 2024. He also is a member of various international research groups and of the Friday Group, a Belgian think-tank striving to integrate young Belgian citizens into the public debate on important societal issues.