Francesca Caroccia (L'Aquila): „The Use of General Clauses in the Age of Globalization: The role of judges and political choices“

Abstract

The process of globalization has been ongoing for a long time and brings about important consequences at a juridical level. Among these, there is a necessity to rethink the relationship between law, the power of a judge and private autonomy. In this perspective, the aim of my research is to study the relationship between globalization of law and general clauses, i.e. the role of general clauses in the legal systems – both national and international – in a globalized context. In every legal system, general clauses allow the interpreter to carry out a creative function. General clauses also comply with the need of justice by including ethical or moral issues in private bargains; furthermore, they allow legal systems to maintain a good level of flexibility. However, to avoid any risk of arbitrariness, this creative function should be limited through the use of standards of evaluation which characterize the context of reference. These standards of evaluation could be juridical or non-juridical (e.g.: social) parameters, but in any case they reflect the historical and the social context in which the judge works. At a national level, a judge’s discretion can be limited through the use of the typical values of the legal system concerned (often identified with constitutionally recognized principles and values). In the age of globalization, however, the problem is to determine new standards of evaluation. In absence of a particular system of values, the meaning of norms and general clauses only resides in the discretion of the judge. In this perspective, the risk is that the judge gives political answers or that market logic imposes its rules without any possible control. The principal aim of this research is to analyze how general clauses act in a globalized context, and to verify how judges use the discretional power that general clauses grant them, in order to find solutions capable of reducing the judge’s discretion and of limiting the interference of market logic.

Adj. Prof. Dr. Francesca Caroccia

Curriculum Vitae

Francesca Caroccia studierte Rechtswissenschaften an der Universität La Sapienza in Rom und promovierte 2004 mit der Dissertation „L’interpretazione del contratto nei Principi UNIDROIT dei contratti commerciali internazionali. Regole ermeneutiche tra autonomia ed eterointegrazione” an der juristischen Fakultät der Universität Molise. Seit 2008 ist Francesca Caroccia Adjunct Professor für Privatrecht an der Universität L’Aquila. Zudem ist sie seit 2005 als Anwältin tätig und war unter anderem von 2006 bis 2008 juristische Beraterin des italienischen Innenministers. 2009 war Francesca Caroccia Gastprofessorin für Internationales Recht und Wettbewerbsrecht an der Universität Toulouse. Außerdem gehört sie seit Jahren zum editorial board von „Droit & Société“. Seit Juli 2013 ist sie Fellow am Käte Hamburger Kolleg „Recht als Kultur“.

Publikationen (Auswahl)

• Contratto d’opera intellettuale, in: F. Marinelli, F. Caroccia (Hrsg.): Il lavoro autonomo. Contratto d’opera e contratto d’opera intellettuale, in Trattato del Consiglio nazionale del notariato diretto da P. Perlingieri, Neapel: ESI (im Erscheinen).
• Übersetzung des Werkes von T. Kirat: Quale diritto per l’economia? (im Original: Economie du droit, with an introduction by G. Alpa, Paris: La Découverte 1999), Milan: EGEA 2013.
• Ricerche in tema di elementi accidentali, L’Aquila: TEXTUS 2012.
• Übersetzung des Werkes von A.-J. Arnaud: Governanti senza frontiere. Tra mondializzazione e post-mondializzazione (im Original: Critique de la raison juridique 2: Gouvernants sans frontières. Entre mondialisation et post-mondialisation, Paris: LGDJ 2003), Neapel: ESI 2011.
• L’interpretazione del contratto, Neapel: ESI 2006.