On the Need for Conceptualisation - from the Perspective of a 21st Century Private Lawyer

Abstract

Civil law has traditionally been based on basic concepts, whether in general doctrine or in the areas of family law, property law, succession law or contract law. However, some of these concepts, which have been developed over a long period of time and may even be enshrined in law, are often narrowly defined and require a rethinking of the conceptual boundaries, due to technological developments and the emergence and continuing expansion of artificial intelligence. By focusing on the problem of the need for conceptualisation and taking into account different jurisprudential positions, this paper aims to respond to one of the most important issues in contemporary private law: Whether it is necessary to expand the framework of the most basic civil law concepts and whether it is necessary to proceed along the lines of bound concepts as signposts, or whether the creation of concepts and the imposition of definitions on legal phenomena is in itself a constraint that may constitute an obstacle to the further natural development of law, especially in the age of digitalisation.