Legal rationale for a ban on externalisation under German and European property law / Funding: Friedrich Ebert Foundation (June 2014 - June 2016)

The project focuses on the formal institution of property rights and inquires whether property ownership has an inherent limitation with regard to the externalisation of production costs onto society and the environment. In this context the introduction of a ban on externalisation into property law derived from the social function of property acknowledged by constitutional law is investigated. As present (informal) rules fail to effectively prevent enterprises externalising their production costs the formal rules of property rights may need revision. The potential legal rationale and possible obstacles for introducing an obligation of sustainability into German property law and amending competition law to force enterprises to internalise externalised costs are looked upon.