Course Description

This course is conducted in English and intended to attract students’ attention to comparative civil law. Lawyers in the twenty-first century are required not only to have expertise in their own domestic law but also to broaden their knowledge of foreign and comparative law. This kind of intellectual horizon is especially for the students indispensible who major in or are interested in civil law.

The course will focus on the legal problems of pure economic loss in Europe. The Reasons for choosing this topic are as follows:

1. European-continental civil law, German Civil Code in particular, was adopted by Taiwan civil law. European codification and legal doctrines still have important impact on the development of Taiwan civil law.
2. Pure economic loss is one of the most interesting and heatedly debated legal issues in Europe today, raising complex questions which affect the law of tort and contract (Preface of the book “ Pure Economic Loss in Europe” of Bussani and Palmer (edi), 2003) . Taiwan courts and civil law scholars encounter the same problems. What has been discussed and achieved in Europe with regard to pure economic loss ought to be studied by Taiwanese lawyers.