FROM ANGLO-AMERICAN LAW TO CONTINENTAL EUROPEAN LAW– DE MINIMIS RULE IN PRIVATE LAW

Functional method of comparative law necessitates determining the functionally equivalent institutions in different legal systems, on the basis of a solution to a legal problem adopted in a particular legal system. De minimis rule is a solution which is especially utilized by the American judiciary. This institution ensures trivial damages not to be compensated or litigated. On the other hand, in continental European law, which accepts written legal rules as the primary source of law, de minimis rule is not explicitly designated. Although this institution is often used in Anglo-American law and cannot be found in the continental European law, it is possible to find the traces of the same functioning institutions when they are being approached from a comparative law point of view. Particularly in some regulations of tort law and neighborhood law, it appears that there is a distinction between significant and insignificant damages. European Union law forced the member states by its directives to codify this institution in their domestic laws in particular areas. The most known examples can be found in antitrust law, the law on liability for defective products and copyright law. De minimis rule is also found in the scope of the unification of laws in Europe. As a matter of fact, it can be concluded that it is not a foreign institution to continental European law