The Interaction Between Mutual Trust, Mutual Recognition and Fundamental Rights in Private International Law in Relation to the EU’s Aspirations Relating to Contractual Relations

This contribution aims to provide an analysis of the interrelationship between the principles of mutual trust, mutual recognition and fundamental rights in the field of private international law and to consider the interaction between these principles in relation to the European Union’s aspirations with regard to contractual relations. These aspirations involve both harmonization and unification of substantive private-law rules and far-reaching private international law measures, e.g. of mutual recognition of foreign judgments. After an introduction of the rule of mutual recognition under Brussels I Recast and its underlying mutual trust principle, first the role of fundamental rights will be discussed, which may be an important reason for limiting the rule. Secondly, it will be argued that the development of this rule should not only be seen in the light of the aspirations to build an area of freedom, security and justice, but also in the light of the aspirations to harmonize and unify substantive contract-law rules.