A preface is not destined to give an overview, only to emphasize what is essential in the prefacer’s view. Th at is, in my view, the way in which the author searches, in chapter 6 , the signifi cance of a European ius commune as it emerges from his examination of three major European liability systems: the English, the French, and the German. Th e concept goes back to the twelft h century and was based mainly in Roman law. In the Middle Ages, it was not conceived of as a system of rules enacted for a specifi c territory. Th is traditional ius commune disintegrated, however, with the rise of rationalism and nationalism in the eighteenth century when some rulers wanted the identity of the nation to be supported by a national codifi cation (Section 602). Currently, harmonization and the search for a new ius commune are at the very heart of the European private law discourse. Sometimes, the author observes, the discussion seems to have divided the European academic world into believers and heathen. Unfortunately, in this discussion, the question whether harmonization is desirable and for what purpose, is less debated (Section 603-3), as are the diff erences in attitude towards the codifi cation phenomenon and the level of systematization in the various legal systems, and the academic involvement in it (Section 604-1). In light of these diff erences, the author examines basic issues in common and codifi ed legal systems, such as the predominance of the judiciary over the legislator (Section 604-2), as well as the characteristics of legal cultures behind the law (Section 610): the German fondness for legal order, the English fondness for traditions, and the French fondness for grands principes . He also examines the policy approaches of these systems based on diverging concepts of justice, that is, on what is considered to be just, fair, and reasonable: English tort law is primarily about corrective justice and regulating conduct (Section 609-2); French tort law is less focused on how someone should behave than on how someone can get damages; whereas German law takes an intermediate position but closer to French law in that both systems regard equality and solidarity and victim protection, as the main concerns of tort law (Section 609-3).