The new European legal culture: ten years on

New postscript to:
Hesselink, M.W. & Wei, L. (2010). --- Xin de ouzhou falü wenhua. --- Beijing: Zhongguo falü chubanshe.
This is the Chinese translation of:
Hesselink, M.W. (2001). --- The new European legal culture. --- Deventer : Kluwer.

That essay argued that Europe was facing a shift from a rather formal, dogmatic and positivistic approach to a more substance-oriented and pragmatic approach to private law.

Ten years on, has the trend towards a new, less formal legal culture in Europe been confirmed or is there now a reverse tendency? As this paper points out, the picture is mixed: there are both examples of neo-formalism and new examples of a more substantive approach to private law. Four milestones and their implications for European legal culture are addressed: the sudden end of the postmodern era after 9/11, the failed European constitution and related neo-nationalism, the arrival of the new Member States, and the CFR process. Overall, today the neo-formalist tendencies seem to be stronger than a decade ago.