Court Practice and Harmonisation – Status and Challenges in the Face of Modern Tort Law

This article explores the harmonisation of European tort law through court practice. The central question is to what extent the various Supreme Courts are reasoning in a manner that contributes to the harmonisation of European tort law. The research is based upon cases reported in the European Tort Law Yearbooks over the past 25 years, many of which are indexed in the EUROTORT database. The findings suggest that ‘soft law’ instruments such as the Principles of European Tort Law (PETL) and the Draft Common Frame of Reference (DCFR) have exerted a relatively modest influence. In contrast, EU law and the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) have significantly accelerated the harmonisation process. Toward the end of the article, current trends and developments are discussed. The author claims that the synergy among 1) liability questions pertaining to new technologies; 2) the demands of consistency within national tort law systems; and 3) the impact of Large Language Models will drive a stronger trend toward the harmonisation of European tort law.