Major subjects in general private law include contract law, the sale of goods law, the preferential right to assets in the event of insolvency as well as tort law. Some general issues concerning debt claims, transfer and ownership also belong here.
These subjects used to be domestically oriented, but today international discussions are held concerning the need to harmonise legal rules so that differences in the existing regulatory systems do not present trade barriers. Hence this subject tops the EU’s agenda and there is a broad support for introducing of a European statute book in the field of private law. Research in the field entails, as before, analysis of the legal rules, but also, even more importantly, identification of differences between the legal corpora used in different countries.