In the wake of the 2008 Global Financial Crisis, misconduct and unfair contract terms in financial services contracts triggered a wave of litigation before national courts. Litigation did not remain a national law issue but soon became an EU law issue. National courts sought, through the preliminary reference procedure, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU)'s guidance to interpret EU financial services legislation and determine the scope of consumers' rights and private law remedies vis-à-vis financial service providers (FSPs).
The high number of CJEU's rulings have significantly innovated numerous EU and national private law rules on financial services contracts. The CJEU has often expanded consumers' private law remedies, based on general principles of EU law, beyond the letter of the law, thus 'creating' new private law principles for these contracts.
This book provides the first comprehensive and systematic analysis of the rapidly evolving and complex CJEU case law on retail credit, payment, and investment services contracts. It extensively discusses the rationales of the CJEU's judgments and gives guidance on the role of general principles of EU law in the CJEU's reasoning. It identifies and examines the emerging judge-made principles of private law applicable across retail financial services contracts. It assesses the significant legal and policy implications of the CJEU case law on national and EU private law.
