ABSTRACT
Transnational trade and employment often lead to cross-border disputes in civil matters. The actors in such disputes are consumers, small and medium-sized entrepreneurs and businesses, employees, large multinational corporations as well as family members. These disputes may concern faulty consumer goods, large-scale sale of goods contracts, employment relationships, debt collection and family relationships such as divorce. The common element is the crossborder setting, implying that the parties are from separate member states. Alternatively, other factors may entail that the dispute has a cross-border element. The establishment of the EU policy and corresponding competence on judicial cooperation in civil matters may thus be viewed as a consequence of, or necessity for, the success of the Union’s internal market. The Union’s measures taken under this legal basis, today Article 81 TFEU, have collectively become so significant that some commentators, partly normatively and partly performatively, talk about the establishment of a ‘fifth freedom’ – the free movement of judgments (see, e.g., Crifò 2009). This chapter will explore the limits to and development of that freedom.
