Managing Pluralism

This chapter examines which mechanisms can provide ‘checks and balances’ for the rules created by different lawmakers in a legal pluralist constellation. The question here is which space exists for the creation and maintenance of private governance mechanisms based on voluntary participation. First, the chapter maps the mechanisms for monitoring the substance of private lawmaking, in so far as they relate to European contract law. Second, the spaces that exist between private and public regulation in relation to each of these instruments are examined. The chapter moves on to a more in-depth analysis of the space that private regulation has besides public regulation. The relevant mechanisms that can be discerned are: standardisation of contracts, the use of optional instruments or model rules in contract law, and monitoring through online dispute resolution.