Private Law

The Department of Private Law is a leading centre for teaching and research across the broad field of private law. The expertise of the Department members encompasses a wide range of areas, including contract law, tort and liability law, property law, commercial and corporate law, insolvency law, private international law, and the law of persons and families. The department is also home to the Maastricht Law & Tech Lab, reflecting its commitment to exploring the profound impact of technological developments on law and legal practice. With approximately seventy members of staff, the department brings together a diverse and internationally oriented community of scholars whose expertise spans the full breadth of contemporary private law.

The department offers a rich and diverse portfolio of courses at both bachelor’s and master’s level. A typically Maastricht approach is the integration of national, European and comparative perspectives. Many courses are therefore offered in both a Dutch language variant, within the Bachelor ‘Rechtsgeleerdheid’ and various master’s programmes, and a European and comparative law variant, taught in English, within the Bachelor European Law School and several international and European master’s programmes.

Throughout its teaching, the department places strong emphasis on understanding law within its broader international, societal and economic context. Rather than treating private law as a self-contained body of rules, students are encouraged to explore how legal principles interact with wider social, economic and technological developments. This approach equips students not only with a sophisticated understanding of private law, but also with the analytical and interdisciplinary skills required to address the complex legal challenges of a rapidly changing world.

A further area of strategic development is the integration of data and artificial intelligence into legal education. At both bachelor’s and master’s level, students are introduced to the opportunities and challenges presented by these technologies. Data and AI have the potential to transform the way legal information is generated, analysed and applied. By embracing these developments, the Department seeks to contribute to more effective legal practice, better-informed decision-making, and the development of legislation that is coherent, evidence-based and legitimate.

The department’s research is firmly embedded in both the Ius Commune Research School and a number of leading research institutes and centres, including the Maastricht European Private Law Institute (MEPLI), the Institute for Corporate Law, Governance and Innovation (ICGI), the Law & Tech Lab, and the Maastricht Centre for Citizenship, Migration and Development (MACIMIDE). This research environment provides a strong foundation for interdisciplinary, international and societally engaged scholarship. Research within the department addresses some of the most pressing developments confronting private law and the wider legal order. Particular attention is devoted to data and artificial intelligence, Europeanisation, globalisation and migration, reflecting the department’s commitment to understanding how profound societal and technological transformations reshape legal institutions, legal relationships and the practice of law.

Through the combination of firm doctrinal scholarship, comparative and European perspectives, and engagement with technological and societal change, the Department of Private Law seeks to advance the boundaries of private law research while contributing to the development of a legal system that is responsive to the needs of contemporary society.