Le concours des responsabilités contractuelle et délictuelle. Réflexions comparatistes à l'occasion du projet de réforme du droit français de la responsabilité civil

The French government has proposed to reform the remaining body of liability law. It hassuggested to codify and modify the well-known principle of non-cumul des responsabilités contractuelleet délictuelle, that has originally been developed by the Cour de cassation. This contribution examinesthe government’s proposal from a comparative perspective. This perspective reveals, first of all, that thedecision to allow a concurrent claim in delict or not is not only influenced by the theoretical arguments thatfeature prominently in legal literature, but also by the scope and structure of the laws of contract anddelict. Secondly, the contribution argues that the question of concurrence cannot be settled satisfactorilyas long as important differences between the laws of contract and delict continue to exist. The conclusionmust be that the laws of contract and delict should be reunified as much as possible. Inspiration for suchan approach can be drawn from Dutch private law.