Jan M. Smits holds the Chair of European Private Law and Comparative Law in the University of Tilburg (The Netherlands) and is research professor of Comparative Legal Studies in the University of Helsinki (Finland). He directs the new Tilburg Institute of Comparative and Transnational Law (TICOM). His publications and teaching are in the fields of European private law, comparative law and legal theory. Jan Smits was previously a professor of European private law at Maastricht University. He holds a doctorate from Leiden University, was a visiting professor at several foreign universities and is a co-editor of various law journals and book series. In 2004, he was appointed a honorary judge in the Amsterdam Court of Appeal. A full CV (including a list of publications) can be downloaded from this website (click on the right).
Comparative Law
Human Dignity and Uniform Law: An Unhappy Relationship, Essays In Honor of Saul Litvinoff (2008)
This contribution argues that there is no `transnational' concept of human dignity or of public...
The German Schuldrechtsmodernisierung and the New Dutch Civil Code: A Study in Parallel, SCHULDRECHTSMODERNISIERUNG UND EUROPÄISCHES VERTRAGSRECHT (2008)
Both the Netherlands and Germany have recently introduced important reforms of their law of obligations....
Nordic Law in a European Context, Nordic Law - Between Tradition and Dynamism (2007)
This contribution looks at Nordic law in a comparative perspective. It discusses four features of...
Legal Culture as Mental Software, or: How to Overcome National Legal Culture?, Private Law and the Many Cultures of Europe (2007)
The concept of legal culture plays an important role in the debate about the unification...
The Principle of Unjust Enrichment and Formation of Contract: the Importance of a Hidden Policy Factor, European Review of Private Law (2006)
The two types of situations discussed in this contribution show how the principle against unjust...
European Private Law
Common Core Evaluation of the Draft CFR - Book VII (Unjustified Enrichment) (with Vanessa Mak), TICOM Working Paper on Comparative and Transnational Law No. 2009/04 (2009)
This contribution contains an evaluation of Book VII (Unjustified enrichment) of the Draft Common Frame...
Full Harmonization of Consumer Law? A Critique of the Draft Directive on Consumer Rights, Tilburg Institute of Comparative and Transnational Law Working Paper 2009/3 (2009)
This contribution looks into the Proposal for a European directive on consumer rights as published...
A European Law on Unjustified Enrichment? A Critical View of the Law of Restitution in the Draft Common Frame of Reference (DCFR), Stellenbosch Law Review (2008)
This contribution discusses the European principles on unjustified enrichment as recently published in the Draft...
Contract Law in the European Union: Convergence or Not?, Sammelband Europaischer Juristentag 4 (2008)
This contribution argues that convergence of (European) contract law should not be found in uniform...
European Private Law and Democracy: A Misunderstood Relationship, ESSAYS IN THE LAW AND ECONOMICS OF REGULATION IN HONOUR OF ANTHONY OGUS (2008)
An important strand of scholarship claims that creating a new European private law (such as...
Legal Theory
Redefining Normative Legal Science: Towards an Argumentative Discipline, METHODS OF HUMAN RIGHTS RESEARCH (2009)
Academic legal scholarship increasingly relies on non-normative perspectives. This raises the question what is actually...
Some Recent Publications in Other Languages than English
Bezduvodné obohacení v návhru ceského obcanského zákoniku – z evropské perspektivy, Sborník statí z diskusních fór o rekodifikaci obcanského práva (2009)
Part Four of the draft for a new Czech Civil Code contains several provisions on...
Consumentenrecht: een zaak voor de Europese Unie? Een kritische beschouwing over het ontwerp voor een Europese richtlijn consumentenrechten, Ars Aequi (2009)
In oktober 2008 publiceerde de Europese Commissie een voorstel voor een Europese richtlijn consumentenrechten. Dit...
Návrh Spoločného referenčného rámca, metodologický nacionalizmus a ďalší postup, Justičná Revue (2009)
The Draft Common Frame of Reference for a European Private Law (DCFR) suffers from so-called...
法 律 模 式 的 進 口 與 出 口: 荷 蘭 的 經 驗, Xiamen University Law Review (2008)
This contribution offers an overview of Dutch efforts in law reform in Central and Eastern...
私法与基本权利：一种怀疑论的观点, Latest Studies of Social Science of Foreign Countries, Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences (2008)
Over the last decade or so, many European countries have seen a growing influence of...