On 8 and 9 May 2025, a symposium was held at the University of Graz in honour of Helmut Koziol on the occasion of his 85th birthday. The event was dedicated to the topic of "Civil law codifications between Europeanisation, tradition and reform" and brought together renowned legal scholars from numerous European countries and beyond. The symposium was organised by Walter Doralt, Gregor Christandl and Barbara C. Steininger.

After the opening by Vice Rector Joachim Reidl and Dean Gabriele Schmölzer, Barbara Steininger and David Messner-Kreuzbauer introduced Helmut Koziol as an academic teacher. Walter Doralt honoured his work from a legal doctrinal perspective and Gregor Christandl highlighted his achievements in the field of comparative law. The symposium then began with a section on general developments in the codification debate.

Lajos Vékás first examined the role of national codifications in the light of European standardisation efforts, before Christiane Wendehorst addressed the connection between civil law codification and digitalisation. Finally, Andrey Shirvindt focussed on structural issues of civil law codifications.

The second day of the conference focussed on national reforms and their overarching significance for private law. Johannes W. Flume kicked things off with an analysis of the interactions between general civil law and special private law. Olaf Riss then discussed current challenges of borrower protection before Peter Bydlinski focussed on the statute of limitations as a central regulatory problem.

Reform projects from various countries were then discussed in an international comparison: Gabriele Koziol gave an online insight into the latest developments in Japanese credit protection law, Elena Bargelli reported on the reform considerations for the Italian Civil Code and Dirk Heirbaut spoke about the Belgian civil law reform and the advantages of a fast pace of reform.

This was followed in the afternoon by contributions on the Czech reform (Filip Melzer), the revision of the French Civil Code (Jean-Sébastien Borghetti) and the need for reform in German tort law (Gerhard Wagner).

The worthy conclusion was provided by a high-calibre panel discussion with Dirk Heirbaut, Sonja Bydlinski, Irmgard Griss, Bernhard A. Koch, Reinhard Zimmermann and Lajos Vékás. During the discussion, it became clear which factors in the legislative process can contribute to the success of legal reforms in the area of civil law.

The organisers would like to thank all participants for their contributions to this fruitful and insightful academic exchange.

To the invitation folder