Cupida legum iuventus

Abstract

In the EU the plurality of legal systems of its various member states hinders, especially in the field of private law, free trade and creates uncertainty about the law applicable in a particular relationship. This is alleviated through International Private Law and judicial cooperation. However, it is not enough. Therefore: 1) since the concepts of private law present three aspects, historical, dogmatic and, at the very least, European, 2) since through the Medieval Romanist Tradition of the Ius Commune and the Ius proprium, as ius singulare, it is shown that unity and diversity can be harmonized, and 3) since the two European traditions, common law and civil law, although diverse, are compatible, a reflection on Roman law, through its own medieval evolution and pandects as the main European legal harmonizing instrument. The history of Roman law and the universities are setting the Foundations of European Private Law or, if preferred, a new Ius Commune europaeum..