The clarion call for justice in private law, which first emerged in the late 19th century, places the nation state in a prominent position. Today, the nation state is subject to deep going transformation processes that affect its ability to deliver its preferred option of justice. The European experiment – the building of a transnational quasi-statutory entity through law with all its turbulence – allows us to study the effects of these transformation processes on private law, on the nation state and on patterns of justice. Peering through a looking-glass, EU private law mirrors the limits of the national welfare state, but also allows us to study the potential for building a concept of justice beyond the nation state in a regulated economy through private law – access justice. Long standing national legal traditions and legal cultures clash with the transformative power of the EU that challenges entitlements held dear, but offers opportunities for rethinking justice through private law