UvA-DARE is a service provided by the library of the University of Amsterdam (http://dare.uva.nl)

UvA-DARE (Digital Academic Repository)

The effects of contracts beyond frontiers: A capabilities perspective on externalities andcontract law in Europe

Tjon Soei Len, L.K.L.

Link to publication

Citation for published version (APA):Tjon Soei Len, L. K. L. (2013). The effects of contracts beyond frontiers: A capabilities perspective onexternalities and contract law in Europe.

General rightsIt is not permitted to download or to forward/distribute the text or part of it without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s),other than for strictly personal, individual use, unless the work is under an open content license (like Creative Commons).

Disclaimer/Complaints regulationsIf you believe that digital publication of certain material infringes any of your rights or (privacy) interests, please let the Library know, statingyour reasons. In case of a legitimate complaint, the Library will make the material inaccessible and/or remove it from the website. Please Askthe Library: https://uba.uva.nl/en/contact, or a letter to: Library of the University of Amsterdam, Secretariat, Singel 425, 1012 WP Amsterdam,The Netherlands. You will be contacted as soon as possible.

Download date: 26 Aug 2020

The Effects O

f Con

tracts Beyo

nd Fro

ntiers | Lyn

Tjon

Soei Len

Lyn Kim Lan Tjon Soei Len (1984) obtained her Bachelor and Master degrees in Law from the Univer-sity of Amsterdam (LL.M. 2007). She also obtained a Bachelor degree in International Business Administration from Erasmus University Rotterdam (2005).

This dissertation was written at the Centre for the Study of European Contract Law at the University of Amsterdam and at the University of Chicago, during a research visit (2009).

Lyn’s research interests include the field of private law theory with particular focus upon the relationship between theories of justice, consumer choices and the role of coercive legal institutions.

on Externalities and Contract Law in Europe

The Effects Of Contracts Beyond Frontiers |

Lyn K. L. Tjon Soei Len

A Capabilities Perspective

Many goods bought and sold on the market in Europe are produced by

others elsewhere in the world. Although Europeans are often physically

removed from the locations where and the ways in which the goods they buy

are made, the knowledge thereof is often not so remote. Indeed, as a topic of

debate, cases involving deplorable production conditions have proven to be

structural and persistent over time, receiving media, political, and academic

attention, raising broad moral concern.

This dissertation takes the example of transactions for goods

made in sweatshops to raise questions regarding the minimum standards

applicable to market conduct in Europe. It argues from a capabilities

perspective to minimum contractual justice that a society aiming to be

minimally just should not support market activities that have adverse effects

on the central capabilities of others elsewhere. As such, the book provides

reasons of justice for why economic transactions for goods made in

sweatshops should be considered immoral and for that reason invalid under

rules of contract law in Europe.

Graphic design by Kim Meertins .com