The law degrees at IE University are unique in many ways. Here national laws are dialects of a common legal language. In the key field of private law, we have realised how fruitful it is to use the European principles of the law of contracts and property. These principles are not something esoterical, for senior students alone, but a perfect learning tool for junior students.

The European Commission endorsed this innovative approach by granting IE University the European Module “Towards a Common Private Law of Europe” within the prestigious Jean Monnet Programme, under the direction of Marco de Benito.

The Module addresses the teaching of private law across four courses: European Legal History, EU Law, Contracts, and Property.

A world of difference separates the traditional and the IE way. With us, the students learn “vices of consent,” “personal security,” “transfer of property…” by reference to the common European principles (DCFR, PECL) and through comparison to the Código civil, the Code civil, or the BGB.

This intersecting stance is supplemented by seminars and publications.

In this way, students develop a much more cosmopolitan understanding of the law, and incorporate the comparative standpoint naturally into their future legal practice.