Civil Justice Systems / Law and Corporate Behaviour

Professor Hodges investigates mechanisms to control corporate activity in theory and practice alike. Its focus lies on pivotal theories such as that of deterrence as well as results of empiric studies on responsive regulatory systems and behavioural analysis. These various approaches will be further illustrated with examples from private enforcement through civil actions brought in the USA, public enforcement of European competition law by the European Commission and the most recent reform efforts in the UK towards a public enforcement of regulatory law. To this extent, behavioural analysis, so far, has only had little effect on the theory of law enforcement. The author takes this as a starting point and consistently examines those European regulatory regimes in which behavioural analysis has been taken into account. To conclude, the author offers a proposal on how to apply a holistic model to maximize compliant behaviour within large organisations.

Christopher Hodges is head of the CMS Research Programme on Civil Justice Systems am Centre for Socio-Legal Studies, University of Oxford, as well as Erasmus Professor for the Fundamentals of Private Law at the Erasmus University in Rotterdam.