Social models in private law: Tendencies of materialization in German and American private law

Social models in private law are images of society inscribed in a legal system. They alter as a reaction to changing social ideals and values as well as to changing societal basic structures (political, economic, and social) and problems resulting thereof. The solution of legal problems is guided by this image. It instructs and informs the way that the legal system perceives and copes with such problems.; A comparison of some aspects of German and American private law will reveal similarities as well as differences which can be associated with respective social models. Current debates over a re-formalization of private law in Germany as well as in the United States do not adequately account for social models. This work pleads for a more precise analysis of social models in private law in order to adequately describe law and its possible developments.