the topic of harmonisation of european private law and european contract law in particular, is rapidly gaining in importance. the topic is not only widely studied by academics and students all over europe (and even beyond), it is also on the political agenda of the european parliament, the european commission and the european council. the most important achievement in this field is, undoubtedly, the commission on european contract law's drafting of the principles of european contract law (pecl). the european commission considers the pecl to be a serious option for further harmonisation of european contract law within the european union. this publication is the first to provide a systematic overview of the pecl in comparison with dutch contract law as a whole. the book is concise and because of its structure it is easily accessable. amongst the contributors there are many highly distinguished contract law specialists. it may be used at universities in courses on comparative law, european private law and european contract law. it may also be used by international practitioners, foreign students and academics interested in dutch contract law who do not have access to dutch contract law because they have no knowledge of the dutch language. last but not least, the book will be of interest to all jurists interested in the harmonisation of european private law.