Unfair terms in consumer contracts : English and Italian law on unfair terms in the light of Directive 93/13

The purpose of this thesis is to examine the implementation of EC Directive 93/13 on Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts in two countries, England and Italy. The thesis has two primary objectives. The first is to examine to what extent Directive 93/13 has influenced and continues to influence fundamental notions and principles of contract law in the two countries under consideration. The second objective is to answer the question whether European intervention in the field of contract terms has actually enhanced protection for the weak party to a contract in comparison to the one traditionally afforded by English and by Italian law. From the methodological point of view, this thesis seeks to demonstrate the importance of comparative analysis as a key to understanding the effects of European law on domestic legal systems. Finally, the work has a broader, more theoretical concern in that it seeks to explain the nature of the law not as a simple set of rules and cases, but as a set of methods, habits and ways of thinking deposited and crystallised over generations - in other words, as a tradition. The comparative analysis of the implementation of Directive 93/13 in England and Italy shall reveal that all measures seeking to reform the law, even those of European origin, are not immune from the influence of tradition in the way they are drafted, implemented and ultimately applied.