This book investigates whether national courts could and should import innovative solutions
from abroad in the adjudication of complex legal disputes. Special attention is paid to the
concept of legally relevant damage and its importance in overcoming the deadlock created by the
category of pure economic loss in the Portuguese and German tort law systems. These systems are
essentially based on the concept of unlawfulness (Rechtswidrigkeit) which limits the
compensation for pure economic loss to where a protective rule is infringed. These losses have
nevertheless been compensated for through the extensive interpretation of rules and the appeal
to near-contractual devices which has been detrimental to legal certainty the equality before
the law and subjects' freedom of action. This book explains why courts can and should take a
proactive role and apply DCFR-based solutions in order to compensate for every loss that is
worthy of legal protection.
