Neue Vertragsformen als Rechtstransfer?

Zum Topos der angloamerikanischen Provenienz des Leasing-Rechts

Abstract

Modern business is characterized by new forms of contracts which are usually not regulated by statutes or codifications. The relatively spontaneous appearance of these new forms of contract is part of present changes in the doctrines of the law of obligations and the concept of contracts as such. According to a prominent opinion these changes are due to a general »Americanisation of law«. In an analysis of the German law on financial-leasing this assumption is put to the test and is confronted with the concept of transfer which it implies. In particular, crossborder-contracts reveal the function of transporting normative economic expectations into the law. Some crucial questions are put: What kind of border is being discussed in the concept of legal transfers? Can the crossing of these borders be understood as a phenomenon of transition or as founding acts of law? Where exactly are the borders which law has to transgress so that one can speak of a »new law of leasing contracts«?