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Copyright

Talya Deibel;

Published On

2025-06-05

Page Range

pp. 109–126

Language

  • English

Print Length

18 pages

6. Bona fides (Good Faith) in European Private Law

Chapter of: Uncovering European Private Law: A Student Handbook(pp. 109–126)
This chapter introduces good faith as a fundamental principle of European private law. It proposes to reconsider its inner logic and future potential through exploring how it has emerged and how it has been recontextualised across different periods of European private law. Good faith refers to loyalty to promises, honesty, and expediency in contractual relations. As an essential pillar in the development of European private law, it predates both the EU and even nation states. The legal evolution of good faith reveals a remarkable continuity, forming a transhistorical pattern from its Roman law origins through medieval developments, early modern civil codes, and into contemporary EU legal frameworks. Yet, good faith has not remained static; it has evolved alongside changing markets and various conceptions of contractual fairness and justice.

This chapter analyses good faith from a broader perspective to highlight its pluralistic and evolving nature, with the aim of fostering further dialogue on its reimagination in European private law.

Contributors

Talya Deibel

(author)
Senior Postdoctoral Researcher at University College Cork
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4823-1628

Dr. Talya Deibel is Senior Postdoctoral Researcher at University College Cork (UCC). She received her LL.M. degree in law and economics (2012) and her Ph.D. in private law (2012) from Bilkent University. After completing her Ph.D., she held various postdoctoral positions across Europe, including at the Oxford Institute of European and Comparative Law, the Unidroit Institute, and the Amsterdam Centre for Transformative Private Law. Before joining UCC, she taught Roman law, foundations of private law, and comparative law at Bilkent University, where she also served as the Chair of Legal History. Talya’s interdisciplinary research revitalizes the fundamentals of European private law and legal philosophy, particularly in the context of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and neurotechnology. See https:// research.ucc.ie/profiles/tdeibel@ucc.ie