The ‘dying’ offer Rule in European Contract Law

Abstract

Does the offeror’s or the offeree’s death terminate a contractual offer? While the PECL and the DCFR remain silent on the issue, recent reform proposals of the law of obligations presented in France, Spain and the Czech Republic suggest diverging solutions. By analysing the historical foundations and the functioning of the existing rules in selected European legal systems, this Article aims to detect the common core of the differing national rules and finally suggests a formulation for a future European contract law.

This publication is with permission of the rights owner freely accessible due to an Alliance license and a national license (funded by the DFG, German Research Foundation) respectively.

Keywords: Formation of contract, offer, death, incapacitation, offeror, offeree, European Contract Law