This chapter concerns the role of values in private law adjudication. It is closely related to the questions dealt with in Chapter 1 on the ‘inside and the outside of private law’. A strictly positivist theory of private law might argue that there is no place for values in a rule-based legal order. Indeed, conflicts of values seem much more important for interpreting open-textured and often politically charged constitutional norms than for applying the seemingly technical rules of private law.

However, disputes between private parties are by no means exempt from value conflicts. In a globalized world, it has even become more frequent that value conflicts play out in private law constellations.