I am pleased to draw the attention of ODGers to the newly published
European Tort Law Yearbook,
European Tort Law 2012, edited by myself and Barbara C Steininger. It is published by De Gruyter of Berlin and Boston. It contains reports on tort law developments in 28 European countries and in the law of the EU. As a bonus, there is an additional
report from Israel (which arguably qualifies as European under the Eurovision Song Contest test).
Amongst the legislative highlights in European tort law in 2012 were a new Civil Code in the Czech Republic and a new German Act on Patients Rights. Amongst the most interesting cases reported
were contradictory decisions on liability for wrongful life in Italy (where the Supreme Court allowed a wrongful life claim for the first time) and Israel (where the Supreme Court in
Hammer v Amit reversed its prior decision in Zeitsov
v Katz,
40(2) PD 85
(1986) and rejected wrongful life claims under Israeli law). Supreme Courts in France, Latvia and Switzerland answered in the affirmative the controversial question whether a legal entity may claim damages
for non-pecuniary loss suffered in consequence of the violation of its personal rights.
If anyone is interested in an offprint of my editor's introduction, summarising some of the most important developments in more detail, please let me know.
By the way, while trying to get the Yearbook's URL from the publisher's website, I have just seen that personal online access to the Yearbook is available for just Euro 49,-- (USD 74,--). I believe,
though I haven't yet checked, that this allows access for a year to all of the Yearbooks we've published with De Gruyter (2010, 2011 and 2012). If interested, click
here.
This is the last of my publications as Director of the Institute for European Tort Law in Vienna. I return to my university post in Bristol in the New Year, though I shall no doubt continue to
be involved in Institute activities in the years to come.
Best wishes to everyone for the festive season
Ken