This volume was prepared by Simon Wiederhold during his stay at the Friedrich Schiller University of Jena and at the Duke University in Durham, U.S. It was accepted as a doctoral thesis by the School of Economics and Business Administration at the University of Jena in August 2011. The thesis...

An Optional European Contract Code in the Institutional Competition between European Contract Laws -- Assessment of the Desirability of an Optional European Contract Law -- Evaluation of the European Commission's Impact Assessment Accompanying the Proposal for a Regulation on a CESL.